Behind the Meter: Meet the Commissioners

Did you know the Michigan Public Service Commission launched a new podcast, Behind the Meter: An MPSC Podcast, at the beginning of the year?

This launch episode hosted by Mark Burn, the commission’s chief operating officer, featured all three of the MPSC's Commissioners: Chair Dan Scripps, Katherine Peretick and the most recently appointed Alessandra Carreon. The monthly podcast aims update listers on news around energy and telecommunications as well as the work the MPSC is involved in and answering questions around those topics. In this inaugural episode, each commissioner shares their background: Scripps as a born and raised Michigander, former lawyer and served one term in Michigan's House of Representatives; Peretick shares her background as a mechanical engineer also born and raised in Michigan who worked in a series of energy companies from wind to energy storage; Carreon shares her work prior to her appointment at a clean energy NGO focused on equitable access and her background as a chemical engineer. 

While seeking out engagement opportunities with the public and better public input, an advocate attending a public hearing in Flint inspired the podcast. The goal was to provide more forms of communication around the work that they do as the MPSC's communications team developed the podcast internally. The formal legal documents of the orders, not being as accessible to the public, the commission is beginning to "pull back the curtain" around those complex processes. Recent efforts mentioned include issuing issue briefs on cases, explainers on decisions and the MPSC spotlight newsletter.

Mark Burn (left) alongside Chair Scripps (right)

The commissioners take some time to talk about its history, originally formed in 1873 with the formation of the Michigan Railroad Commission by the state's legislature. Scripps shares, "Railroads were the initial monopoly. They provided a vital public service, but monopolies tend towards monopolistic behavior so the idea was to put in place at each state, and each state has one of us, a check on that so that the benefits of delivering core essential services that often are natural monopolies could be checked and made sure that they were operating in the public interest." In 1939 the legislature was reformed into what is is today, whereby all three commissioners are governor appointed with staggered six year terms. Each are currently appointments of Gov. Whitmer. It's interesting to learn about the breath of the commissions history beginning with railroads and even having regulatory authority over ferries to Mackinaw island in the past. The legislature works to set the parameters around the commission's powers and responsibilities which are currently natural gas, electric and licensing telecommunications. 

Commissioner Peretick condenses the work of the commission,"to ensure safety, accessibility and reliability of energy and telecommunications services at reasonable rates".

Commissioner Peretick (left) condenses the work of the commission alongside Commissioner Carreon (right)

Commissioner Carreon continues, "I can imagine it feels very frustrating if you know that there's something so massive, a service that you can't do without but you don't understand how it gets to you and you don't understand your role in how it's operated or managed". She raises the importance of Michiganders understanding what the commission does as, "an opportunity, one, to understand how to engage in these highly complex proceedings that we're apart of that we administer, but also to get a better understanding of what the expectations are around the service that you obtain". She also highlights the importance of access to education in ensuring ratepayers understand difference between regulation or the implementation of policy as laws change and understanding the role of policy makers which she clarifies "we are not in our function we aren't making the policies we're implementing them". 

Overall this was an informative episode that expressed the commission’s vested interest in ensuring that there is more public participation in the way that the MPSC does there work more recently. Scipps, whose father is an orchestra conductor, compares the work of the commission to that of on orchestra production with a slew of moving parts working together to produce a seemingly effortless product that many fail to notice unless something goes wrong. He describes his position as a "dream job". Commissioner Carreon also explains what drew her, “protecting people protecting the planet in the best way that any organization that I was apart of could…our work directly impacts the public and we, this group of people, strive to make sure that that’s always as best and positive an impact that we can possibly make it within our mission and our purview and our authority”.