Gov. Jerry Brown appointed Elizabeth Echols on Wednesday to direct the California Public Utilities Commission's Office of Ratepayer Advocates. The division is dedicated to protecting consumers and has been without a permanent director for more than five years. Interim director Joe Como retired in December.
Echols, a 55-year-old Berkeley resident, lost the race for an East Bay state Assembly seat to Tony Thurmond in 2014. From 2010 to 2013 she directed the Small Business Administration for the Western region, appointed by President Barack Obama. She also directed the U.S. Green Building Council, was a member of the Obama-Biden transition team and was a director of policy at Google. She earned a law degree from Stanford University.
The state Senate needs to confirm the appointment.
The CPUC oversees privately owned electric, gas, transportation and telecommunication companies. Recently, the commission has been under fire for a series of scandals, including the Porter Ranch gas leak, San Onofre shutdown deal and deadly San Bruno pipeline explosion. Thousands of released emails show that top commission staff often had close relationships with executives at the utilities they oversee.
Recently, three lawmakers proposed letting voters decide whether to strip the agency's constitutional authority and allow the Legislature to redistribute its power to other state agencies.