Engineer Mark Vannoy said he was happy in the job he was doing before Gov. Paul LePage nominated him to fill out the last nine months of a six-year term on Maine’s Public Utilities Commission.
Vannoy, of Waldoboro, received his master’s degree in engineering from Cornell University in 1999 and has worked in Maine since 2000. He received the call from the governor on April 24.
The three-person Public Utilities Commission is the state agency that regulates electric, natural gas, telecommunications and water utilities and oversees emerging competitive markets for some of these services. The commission also regulates water taxis and ferries in Casco Bay, and promotes safe digging through the Dig Safe underground utility damage prevention program.
According to Vannoy, the monopolies that provide some of these services exist in cases where offering competing services would complicate infrastructure or otherwise be impractical.
“The PUC’s job is to balance the public interest, as far as the ratepayers go, with a utility’s investment and return on that investment,” Vannoy said. “Ultimately, it’s the Legislature that is going to write the rules.”
Vannoy said the Legislature debates and writes the laws the commission must carry out. As an example, he talked about the 1999 passage of renewable energy portfolio standards that define renewable resources, call for a certain percentage of energy sold in the state to come from those resources, provide a schedule to meet those percentage goals and call on PUC to inform ratepayers of their options to purchase renewable energy.
He said such standards, and PUC’s role in enforcing them, are examples of the commission’s involvement in issues beyond just the rates residents pay for electricity and other utilities.
Vannoy said his interview for the full-time, paid position came three days after the governor’s phone call and was followed, May 14, by a hearing in the Legislature. The next day, his appointment was confirmed.
“I have worked with a lot of utilities, mostly monopoly utilities throughout the state,” he said. “Most were not regulated by PUC.” He said these included waste water utilities. He said his broad technical background, beginning when he was in the Navy’s nuclear power program, will be an asset to the commission.
“A ship is like a floating city,” he said. “You have power generation and distribution systems, water systems, emergencies like fire and flooding and you’ve got telecommunications systems.”
While these systems are often smaller than those that serve municipalities, he said there are many parallels.
Vannoy said PUC acts like a court, reviewing cases and making judgments.
“It’s a long process,” he said. “The staff is very professional. They do a lot of preparatory work.” He said he has not yet attended a PUC hearing.
He said he expected the commission to hear cases regarding wireless smart meters that gauge electricity usage, as well as those that relate to the expansion of natural gas infrastructure and delivery in Maine.
“The state is going out for proposals, I believe, to serve the state buildings in Augusta,” he said of the latter utility. “A private company has to respond to that and figure out how they can most cost effectively get it there.”
He said a discussion about pipelines and other delivery options would need to be held in the Legislature.
Vannoy said his engineering background distinguished him from the other commissioners, Chairman Tom Welch and David Littell, who are both lawyers.
“It’s a rare honor to be nominated and go through the process and have the opportunity to serve the people of Maine this way,” he said. He said he planned to be accessible to citizens and looked forward to hearing their thoughts on issues that come before the commission.
Vannoy will start his tenure at PUC on Monday, June 11. For more information about the commission and a schedule of public hearings, visit the website at maine.gov/mpuc.
