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 before TPUC and monitors complaints filed against various utilities in the state. 

Karen began her legal career with the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation where she held various titles and job responsibilities including Deputy Commissioner of Environment, Assistant Commissioner, Managing Legal Counsel and Deputy General Counsel.   She also previously worked in the Attorney General’s Office in the Law Enforcement and Prosecution Division.

Karen is a graduate of Mississippi University for Women, where she majored in Biology.  She attended law school at the Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law at the University of Memphis. 

Karen is currently the Chair to the Water Committee of the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates (NASUCA).  The NASUCA Water Committee hosts speakers six times during the year and provides speakers to NASUCA’s annual and midyear meetings.  She is also a member of the Tennessee Bar Association, the American Water Works Association, and the Energy Bar Association.