USA, California:

California Public Utilities Commission Gains Renewable Energy Expert (utsandiego.com)

Carla Peterman
(Courtesy utsandiego.com)

An expert in renewable energy financing has been appointed to the five-member California state commission overseeing privately owned utilities, including PG&E, Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric.

Pending Senate confirmation, Carla Peterman, 34, of Sacramento, currently with the California Energy Commission, will joint the California Public Utilities Commission. She replaces Timothy Simon, a former securities and banking industry attorney, whose term ends at year's end.

In just two years, Gov. Jerry Brown has reshaped the California Public Utilities Commission, hand picking four of its five members.

The utilities commission is poised to make key decisions in 2013 that will re-calibrate local utility rates, influence the future of the idled San Onofre nuclear plant and determine private incentives for energy conservation and renewable energy projects such as wind, solar and geothermal plants.

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