June 22, 2022

Shelby Linton-Keddie Joins FRI Advisory Board

June 22, 2022 FRI is pleased to announce that Ms. Shelby Linton-Keddie, Managing Director of State Regulatory Affairs for the Edison Electric Institute (EEI), has joined FRI’s Advisory Board. Linton-Keddie oversees EEI’s national engagement and strategy on state regulatory issues before public utility commissions and state legislatures.  Prior to joining EEI, she came from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, where she held various positions including an Assistant Small Business Advocate, Manager, State Regulatory Strategy and Sr. Legal Counsel for Duquesne Light Company, Counsel to Pennsylvania Public Utility Commissioner Pamela Witmer, Associate at the law firm of…

June 10, 2022

Dr. Ohler Awarded MU Research Council Grant

June 10, 2022 Dr. Adrienne Ohler, Associate Research Professor with FRI,  was recently awarded a grant by the University of Missouri Research Council to support a new research project titled The Economics of Environmental Health Disparities: Who Benefits from Coal Power Plant Closures? Disparate exposure to energy-related air pollution has been shown to increase health inequalities for low income and minority populations, increase their cost of healthcare, and lead to a struggle between energy production and public health and health disparities. To evaluate the economics of these environmental health disparities, Dr. Ohler will examine the distribution of health benefits across…

April 27, 2022

John E. “Butch” Howard Selected for 2022 Crystal Award

April 28, 2022 FRI has selected John E. “Butch” Howard as recipient of the 2022 Crystal Award for Distinguished Service. John E. “Butch” Howard was a member of the South Carolina Public Service Commission (SC PSC) for sixteen years, as well as an active participant in the National Association of Regulated Utility Commissioners (NARUC) and several other regulatory education and research organizations. Howard started his regulatory journey when he was elected to the SC PSC in 2004. He served on the PSC until 2020. He was elected as Co-Chairman to the commission in 2008 and Chairman in 2010. During…

April 12, 2022

Karen Stachowski Joins FRI Advisory Board

April 12, 2022 FRI is pleased to welcome our newest Advisory Board member, Karen H. Stachowski, Senior Assistant Attorney General in the Consumer Protection & Advocate Unit of the Financial Division in the Office of the Tennessee Attorney General. In this role, she focuses on proceedings before the Tennessee Public Utility Commission (TPUC), which is responsible for regulating Tennessee’s investor-owned utility companies.  The Consumer Advocate seeks to enforce laws applicable to public utilities, to remove barriers to competition in public utilities markets, and to seek a healthy balance between regulation, competition, and the public interest.  It participates in regulatory proceedings…

Feb. 25, 2022

FRI Joins Engaging 4 MO Series

FRI’s Executive Director, Dr. Michael Sykuta, joined the Engaging 4 MO webinar series to tackle the question, “Who Sets My Utility Bill?”  The topic was sparked by a social media post complaining about the rates energy companies are allowed to charge “with no concern for the public.” The 30-minute video debunks this notion and dives a little deeper into just how many groups are involved in making sure that these rates serve the greater good (including keeping the lights on at the energy companies themselves).   Presented by the MU Division of Applied Social Sciences,…

Feb. 22, 2022

Rich Svindland Joins FRI Advisory Board

February 16, 2022 FRI is pleased to welcome Mr. Rich Svindland, President of Missouri American Water, to the FRI Advisory Board. Mr. Svindland was named president of Missouri American Water in 2021. He is a professional engineer with more than 30 years of experience in the water and wastewater industry. He leads a team that is responsible for providing safe, clean, and reliable water and/or wastewater service to approximately one in four Missourians in 200 communities throughout the state. Before coming to Missouri, Svindland served as president of California American Water and Hawaii American Water for five years. He has…

Feb. 2, 2022

Research Update: Household Appliance Stock, Income, and Electricity Demand Elasticity

January 31, 2022 Dr. Adrienne Ohler, Associate Research Professor with FRI, published a study titled “The Household Appliance Stock, Income, and Electricity Demand Elasticity” examining how electricity demand elasticity is impacted by household income and the appliance stock. The paper, published in the January 2022 issue of The Energy Journal,  is co-authored with Dr. David Loomis of Illinois State University and former ISU graduate student Yewanda Marquis. The abstract of the article reads: “This paper estimates household electricity demand using data from the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) 2015 Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS). Previous…

Jan. 21, 2022

NRDC Sponsors 2022 FRI Crystal Award

January 20, 2022 The FRI is excited to announce the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) as the sponsor for 2022 FRI Crystal Award for Distinguished Contribution. First awarded in 2013, the Crystal Award is presented each year to recognize an individual who has made recent and significant contributions to the design, implementation or analysis of public utility regulatory policy. The Crystal Award provides an opportunity to recognize excellence and achievement across regulated industries and further promote the FRI mission. Although NRDC’s sponsorship with FRI is new, NRDC has a long history with the Crystal Award. Ralph…

Sep. 10, 2021

FRI Welcomes New Advisory Board Members

September 10, 2021 We are happy to announce our newest Advisory Board members: Christina Baker, Chairman Kent Chandler, Kristy Hartman, Commissioner Gabriella Passidomo, Kari Gehrke and Matt Rice. Longer bios for these distinguished individuals (and all of our Advisory Board members) are available on the FRI Members page. Christina Lynn Baker, P.E., J.D., is a Senior Assistant Attorney General with the Arkansas Attorney General’s Office working on public utility and environmental issues. She serves as lead attorney of the Consumer Utilities Rate Advocacy Division and routinely provides expert testimony regarding positions taken by the Attorney General to protect Arkansas…

Aug. 26, 2021

2021 Public Utility Symposium Moved to Virtual

August 26, 2021 We have made the difficult decision to hold the 2021 FRI Symposium entirely virtual this year. The thought of leaving the virtual meeting world was exciting, but the reality is that travel is still not as safe and reliable as we want it to be, and the responsible decision is to acknowledge that things are not improving as quickly as we had hoped. Several of our presenters had health concerns, many of our presenters were having trouble getting permission for business-related travel, and all of our presenters had difficulties with flight cancelations (as well as disconcerting…