Get Big Pivots

Eric Blank answers 10 questions  — including why he would want another four years as chair of the Colorado PUC

 

Eric Blank in mid-January began his second four-year term as chair of the Colorado Public Utilities Commission. In both cases, he was appointed by Gov. Jared Polis.

Blank holds a law degree from Yale Law School and a master’s in economics from the London School of Economics. He had a long career in renewable energy beginning in the 1990s when he led the energy work for what is now called Western Resource Advocates, a non-profit environmental group. Through PUC interventions in six Western states, he helped develop some of the first policies that made utility clean energy investments initially feasible and ultimately cost-effective.

In 2000, he co-founded a pioneering national renewable energy development company. There, he helped commercialize first wind and then later solar technologies by building some of the earliest and largest clean energy projects outside of California. All told, he developed 2,000 megawatts of wind and solar projects representing $4 billion in invested capital.

 

1) You have been at this four years. Why would you re-enlist?

For me, Colorado is potentially uniquely situated to build a replicable national model about how to decarbonize our energy systems in an affordable and reliable manner and that’s an exciting opportunity for me.

More broadly, I believe that the PUC makes a big difference in the lives of Coloradans and am honored that Gov. Polis has reappointed me. I also very much enjoy working with my fellow commissioners, Megan Gilman and Tom Plant, as well as the PUC Staff and the broader utility and regulatory community.

2) You were in front of the PUC for several decades before your appointment in 2020, first representing Law and Water Fund of the Rockies (now Western Resource Advocates) and then in the private sector as a wind and solar developer. Has there been one thing that surprised you in your experience as a PUC commissioner?

As an advocate, I could generally argue for what I believed was the right course forward and in a strategic way to achieve our long-term objectives.

As commission chair, I’ve come to realize that the PUC’s fundamental legitimacy is grounded on providing due process and a fair opportunity for parties to engage each other and be heard, with a final outcome from three independent and neutral commissioners reaching decisions through reasoned and informed public debate, with expert counsel, based  on evidence in the record.

While the process is in many ways highly constraining, I’ve been surprised and pleased about how often we can arrive at sensible and durable outcomes that were not always foreseeable during the case.

3) What is the role of public comment and feedback in proceedings?

For me, public comment is an essential part of the process and helps us learn how people and businesses are impacted by our decisions.

For example, the PUC recently held several public comment hearings in and around Pueblo and Fremont counties in southern Colorado regarding an electric rate increase. The public comments — from a security guard working three jobs, to religious officials helping customers at risk of disconnect, to seniors on disability, or to small business owners or a school district — all illustrate and personalize the impacts of potential rate increases and the importance of energy affordability and reliability in people’s lives.


4) How often do you run into people who have never heard of the Public Utilities Commission?

Most people are familiar with the PUC, but don’t know the full extent of our responsibilities, particularly regarding other regulated industries that impact people like towing, moving companies, taxis, Lyfts/Ubers, railroads and even natural gas pipeline safety.


5) Can you discuss your view of the regulatory compact? Is it fixed or evolving?

The PUC’s role has been and is continuing to evolve.  Since 2019, the legislature has placed on the PUC new responsibilities for emission reductions, clean energy investment, regional market development, clean heat obligations, and beneficial electrification.

To meet our responsibilities, the commission has had to shift to a far more pro-active leadership role from just deciding individual cases that are submitted to us.  It’s been a big change in approach and culture for the PUC.


6) What makes for a good regulator?

Hard work, sensitivity to process and role, a willingness to listen and learn, and being open to the ideas of others.


7) What makes for a good intervenor?

Responsiveness to the concerns of other stakeholders, a willingness to compromise and evolve positions, and a sense of the commission’s limitations.


8) Current regulation is based on cost of service. Do you see a future role for performance-based regulation?

Cost-of-service regulation in Colorado — with its substantial incentives to reward utilities for investing capital (at times, perhaps independent of customer benefit) — has its advantages and challenges.

The key is to ensure that the PUC-approved utility investments produce real customer and other value for the state.  As such, performance-based regulation that aligns customer and utility financial interests, such that the utility wins when customers win (and vice versa) is a very useful tool that has been adopted in multiple areas during my first term, particularly regarding managing large construction budgets (like the Colorado Power Pathway transmission project).


9) Do you think that Colorado can meet the projected growth in demand for electricity while also achieving its 2030 decarbonization goals?

Colorado’s regulated utilities are on track to significantly exceed the 2030 electricity sector goal of reducing GHG emissions by 80% by 2030 from 2005 levels. The PUC is proud to be part of Colorado’s efforts to deliver clean affordable energy.

10) Are there things that you wish the broader public understood about the Public Utilities Commission?

I sometimes wish that the public better understood that there is often no one clear right answer and that there are often difficult tradeoffs among competing affordability, reliability, environmental, and other core state values.

Allen Best
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