Heading the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners

A look at the website for the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners says, NARUC's Washington-based staff is led by an Executive Director, who ensures that the Association is carrying out the mission and goals of its members. That Executive Director is Greg White, a former Commissioner entering his eighth year in a tough job that he makes look easy.

That may be due to his love of the people or the profession, but White recently steered NARUC through a difficult period of pandemic and repositioning of the Association by using his many years of leadership skills. NARUC is fortunate to have him at the helm.

It is apropos that White sat down with a former colleague who worked with him in part of his NARUC journey, to discuss how it all went and where he is headed. Enjoy this discussion between White and former NARUC President, now PUF's Paul Kjellander.
 

PUF's Paul Kjellander: You've been the Executive Director at NARUC since 2015, and you're ready to start your eighth year. Are there any secrets to your longevity?

Greg White: No secrets, just a committed and talented team around me and supportive leadership from our officers and board, for which I am most grateful. As you note, I'm now in my eighth year, and it hasn't been without challenges. 

But NARUC is in its 134th year, and we're in a good place. We're an established organization, and our members are at the forefront of the energy and utility regulatory transition that is going on today. We're busier than ever.

NARUC right now is in this spot where many of the key energy and utility issues are in areas that fall within our members' areas of responsibility. Whether it's transitioning to cleaner generation, modernizing the grid, building new infrastructure, or replacing old infrastructure, our members are involved. 

That's exciting to be part of. I love the work, but it's the people I get to work with that make this job interesting and exciting.

PUF: I know the pandemic had a significant impact on the association. How has NARUC navigated through the last couple of years?

Greg White: My word of advice to all is never kick-off an overhaul of your financial operations during a pandemic. Seriously, NARUC was in need of some systems and process modernization and what I call 'right-sizing' within the organization, which we kicked off in early 2020. 

Timing in life is everything and, frankly, the pandemic pulled the rug out from under us before we could get things started. Needless to say, our transition to updated systems has not gone as smoothly as I would've liked, but in the meantime, we're still getting things done.

And yes, the downturn in the economy and the COVID restrictions hit us pretty hard. Much of our work at NARUC depends on bringing people together, often from long distances, to convene in a single location for meetings and peer-to-peer conversations. 

As you would imagine, that came to a grinding halt. It had a tremendous impact on our finances, at a time when we were already focused on getting our operations in a better position.

In the past year, things have picked back up and we're starting to look like we did pre-pandemic.

It's taken longer than anticipated, but we're holding our Summer and Winter Policy Summits and our Annual Meeting and Education Conference in person again. 

Our Center for Partnerships and Innovation is convening workshops and training programs all around the country again, while our International Programs is moving back to more in-country meetings and programs.

So, we're in a good place. It's a matter of finishing up some of the things we were working on when the pandemic hit.

PUF: The pandemic helped expose to the broader membership what the revenue considerations were. It helped accelerate the educational process for members, board members, and the executive committee so they could work collaboratively toward making tough decisions on right sizing over the last year.

Greg White: Yes indeed. We had already dug into our financial operations, and that was good because they had been examined and vetted such that we knew what we needed to keep our teams intact and continue to deliver the expected services to our members. 

Like I said, we've had tremendous leadership to help us get through the economic effects of the pandemic. Our executive leadership, board, and our membership stepped up and as a result, I feel confident that the association is going to be well-positioned for the long run.

PUF: Dues considerations for members was one piece. Then dealing with changes with the National Regulatory Research Institute seemed to be another of the two biggest decisions that were made over the last year. Those were not easy decisions.

Greg White: Right, they were not easy decisions. NRRI was a valuable resource for NARUC and the regulatory community for over forty-five years, but it was a constant challenge to properly fund the work.

We tried a few innovative initiatives to diversify revenues over the years, but we were unable to sustain the finances needed to maintain NRRI as an independent organization. It hurt to shut the doors on NRRI, but ultimately it was the right decision.

The good news is that we were able to assume the mission and functions of NRRI into NARUC, so our members will continue to receive high-quality research and trainings from NARUC, primarily through our Center for Partnerships and Innovation. We also have retained the Regulatory Training Initiative, RTI, that was being developed under NRRI. 

In addition, we were able to bring several of the NRRI researchers over to NARUC in research and policy positions. I think once again, the association's going to be well served in the long-run with these decisions, as difficult as they were.

PUF: What else do you see as some of the right-sizing considerations that you're going to have to confront over the next couple of years?

Greg White: One is a matter that a lot of associations and businesses have had to deal with as the result of the pandemic and that is our office space. Prepandemic, we had about fifty employees working in the office and space for those fifty people was spread over two floors in the office building we have been in for more than twenty years. 

We discovered during the pandemic that we could work very effectively and productively while working remotely, and that we could get by with considerably less office space. As a result, we have now consolidated our space onto one floor and it's the smaller of the two floors. 

We're currently marketing our larger second floor space for a possible sublease opportunity. Obviously, we are hoping to reduce our operating costs by reducing what we pay for office space in Washington, D.C., especially since we are using our space much differently than prepandemic.

Luckily, a couple of years before the pandemic we instituted a work from home program that allowed staff to work from home one or two days each week, so when the pandemic and lockdowns hit, our transition was easier than expected, in large part because we knew what was needed to work effectively outside of the office. 

Since the pandemic, our ability to work remotely has created a benefit to the association. Instead of losing employees because they have to move, they can continue to work at NARUC. 

As a result, about thirty percent of our staff now live outside the Washington, D.C., metro area, and most of the rest of us don't need to be in the office on a daily basis. In my case, I save two otherwise stressful hours commuting on the days I work from home. For those who live in the Washington, D.C., area, the commute to and from the office can be the worst part of the day.

So, a long-winded response to your question is that we have the opportunity to right-size the footprint of the Washington, D.C., office, which will benefit the association.

PUF: There is a lot of turnover with commissioners. Three-and-a-half to four-and-a-half years is the average tenure. The new commissioner orientation program is significant and an important part of NARUC. Has that become a tougher challenge in recent years?

Greg White: We turned to a virtualprogram during the pandemic, and while we had great participation, you don't get the same personal interactions and connections when you're doing a program on Zoom as you would from a two-day in-person gathering. 

As you would imagine, a big part of the value of our new commissioner program is meeting and learning from other people who are doing the same job as you. Building those relationships is also a popular aspect of the program. The information and discussions were essentially the same as in-person, but perhaps lost is some of the value of peer-to-peer conversation and connections.

There is always turnover among the various state commissions and the new commissioner program is a great resource for our new members. We have a short "introduction to NARUC" program that we provide at each of our three national meetings. 

At our recent annual conference in November, we had eight commissioners sign up in advance for our introductory program and fifteen new commissioners attended, which is great. It shows us the demand is there. I also think we get good word-of-mouth recommendations from commissioners who've been through the new commissioner orientation program.

Our educational programming has blossomed in recent years. Our Rate School was brought in-house a few years ago and it's a tremendous asset for the regulatory community. We have an incredible group of volunteer faculty to thank for its success, along with our amazing meetings department. 

And once again, we have benefitted from the leadership of our members as the curriculum has evolved and improved. The only problem we have is managing the growth as the program has become quite popular within the community. 

The Center for Partnerships and Innovation is doing truly excellent work, as is our International Programs Department. Our former President [Virginia Commissioner] Judy Jagdmann liked to point out that our educational research and training work done within our international programs is valuable to the U.S. regulators and regulatory community as well. 

PUF: NARUC is over a hundred years old and one of its hallmarks is to help all commissioners understand what it means to serve the public interest, to make decisions based on a record, and to avoid losing independence as decision makers. Is that a key piece of where everything has to move for NARUC to be relevant, and if so, how do you get there?

Greg White: I think we're pretty much there in terms of relevance. Our members come from many backgrounds and experiences, and they tend to understand and appreciate the enormity of their jobs, especially at this moment when so much is asked and expected of the energy and water utilities that fall under our members' purview.

As technologies and regulated industries continue to evolve, we should continue to examine utility regulation. Occasionally we see changes in policy and jurisdiction made to accommodate possible market influences affecting regulated utilities.

My experience has been such changes don't necessarily result in a reduced workload for State Commissioners. As we transition to cleaner more sustainable energy resources, the utility commissions become an even more important part of the equation, because they have responsibility to ensure everything is working as needed and expected in terms of reliability, security, resilience, and maintaining affordability. State Commissioners are a very critical part of that equation.

PUF: You see the role for state regulators as a role that is expanding, not diminishing?

Greg White: Maybe not expanding, but neither diminishing. The role may ebb and flow over time, but the current transition in our nation's energy and water utilities and related systems is massive, and the role of state regulators continues to evolve accordingly.

PUF: State regulators talk about cooperative federalism. You've had some successes in terms of pushing those relationships closer together. One is the Joint Federal-State Transmission Task Force. How are you seeing the concept of cooperative federalism becoming realized just over the last year or so?

Greg White: We are always working to enhance our relationships with the federal agencies and our federal regulatory counterparts, and we value those relationships. And yes, I consider the Joint Federal-State Electric Transmission Task Force to be an excellent example of how we can work together to better identify and solve problems. 

Our goals are generally aligned — cleaner, sustainable, reliable, resilient, and affordable. We may see the paths to achieving the goals differently, but that doesn't mean we can't work together. On the contrary, we will achieve more working together than working separately. 

Consider that heretofore, the tremendous gains we have seen in clean-energy development and climate-change mitigation have been largely the result of state and local policies, many implemented through the state public utility commissions and energy offices. The States have a track record of success; so, clearly, we can help.

PUF: We all have a shelf life. What's ahead for you?

Greg White: Oh, good question. What are you hearing? Seriously, I love this work and especially the people I get to work with at NARUC and in our industry.

To be honest, my wife Junru and I do spend more time talking about what's next, but we haven't made any decisions. One of these days we will. Of course, I hope it involves fishing and golfing, and spending more time with family. In the meantime, what better place to be than in a front row seat at NARUC.