Gas supporter tapped for PUC

Gov. Gina M. Raimondo’s recent decision to make changes to the state’s energy regulatory commission comes at a time when there are a number of high-profile decisions facing state regulators, including Invenergy Thermal Development LLC’s controversial proposal to build a 1,000-megawatt power plant in Burrillville.

Raimondo has nominated Marion Gold, currently R.I. Office of Energy Resources commissioner, to join the three-member R.I. Public Utilities Commission. The quasi-judicial organization monitors public utilities, including electricity, gas and telecommunications.

Pending Senate approval, Gold would replace Commissioner Paul J. Roberti, whose six-year term ended last year. She’ll have to weigh in on issues that will likely set the stage for the future of the state’s electric system and customer rates.

They include: modernization of the state’s electric grid; how to set equitable rates with the growth of renewable energy and distributed generation; and how to advise the state’s Energy Facility Siting Board on the proposed Clear River Energy Center in Burrillville.

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As OER commissioner, Gold publicly favored the project, which has generated strong opposition from the host community. She told Providence Business News last August that natural gas projects were needed to counteract high and volatile energy costs. But when asked where she stands now, Gold on May 19 would not take a position on the project.

“I will have to look at things from a different perspective as a regulator,” she said.

Gold is not charged with making the final decision about whether to allow the would-be co-generation plant to be built. That decision belongs to the Energy Facility Siting Board.

But her opinion does carry significant weight, as she and Commissioner Herbert F. DeSimone Jr. are required to submit an opinion stating whether the power plant is needed and the impact it would have on ratepayers (the third commissioner cannot give an opinion because she also sits on the siting board).

“I think the EFSB will give significant weight to the PUC advisory opinion,” said Jerry Elmer, senior attorney at the Conservation Law Foundation of Rhode Island. He said Gold should consider recusing herself from the proceedings, given her previous position at the OER.

The proposed power plant, however, is but one piece of the state’s intricate energy puzzle. Roberti says his successor’s biggest challenge will be evaluating grid modernization and the restructuring of rates, so that “all customers are equitably contributing to the maintenance of the grid.”

Gold thinks she’s ready for the challenge.

“There are a lot of exciting and intellectually challenging issues that I’m looking to dive into,” she said. •

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