Dive Brief:
- New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has named Richard Mroz as the next president of state's Board of Public Utilities. Mroz will take the helm as the state struggles with a variety of energy issues, including the need for significant infrastructure upgrades.
- Mroz, as well as Democratic Assemblyman Upendra Chivukula, were both confirmed to the commission by the New Jersey Senate but have not yet begun their terms. Chivukula chairs the Assembly's Telecommunications and Utilities Committee.
- Christie also tapped Commissioner Joseph Fiordaliso, currently serving on the BPU, to a third term on the commission.
Dive Insight:
When Mroz assumes his duties as New Jersey's chief utility regulator, he will inherit a long list of issues and concerns. The state is dealing with an aging power grid that showed its fragility during Hurricane Sandy in 2012. Utilities could also face increases to renewable targets under proposed legislation that calls for 80% of the state's power to be sourced from renewable sources by 2050.
The state is also trying to devise a way to finance offshore wind farms, and the BPU is considering a rate increase filed by Jersey Central Power & Light three years ago.
Mroz is a lawyer, lobbyist and public affairs consultant, and previously served as chief counsel, special counsel and authorities unit director in former Gov. Christine Todd Whitman's administration. Currently, he serves on the board of the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York, which provides funding to member financial institutions in New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. He has served as a commissioner of the Delaware River & Bay Authority since 2012 and is a registered Republican. He attended the University of Delaware with Christie.
