California Public Utilities Commission President Alice Reynolds is leaving the CPUC and joining CAISO’s Board of Governors after more than four years at the helm of the state’s utility regulator.

Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) appointed CPUC Commissioner John Reynolds (no relation to Alice Reynolds) to the top spot at the agency.

Reynolds will “build on” Newsom’s effort to lower utility bills, ensure that wildfire safety spending delivers real value, and hold utilities accountable for safe, reliable and affordable service, the governor’s office said in a Feb. 18 news release.

Newsom appointed Alice Reynolds as CPUC president in 2021 following on her role as senior advisor on energy for his office from 2019 to 2021. She previously was senior advisor for climate, energy, and the environment for the office of Gov. Jerry Brown (D) from 2017 to 2019.

“It has been the honor of a lifetime to serve the people of California as the president of the Public Utilities Commission,” Alice Reynolds said in the release. “I look forward to continuing to carry out the vision of a safe, clean, reliable, affordable electricity system that benefits all Californians, and I leave knowing that the commission is in good hands.”

Alice Reynolds plans to leave the CPUC in late February to join the CAISO board.

In 2024, Alice Reynolds appeared before state lawmakers to pitch a set of proposed CAISO governance changes that were being developed by the West-Wide Governance Pathways Initiative. (See California Energy Officials Pitch Pathways Plan to State Senators).

Electricity markets in the West are “very fragmented,” Alice Reynolds said to the lawmakers at the time. “So, this effort is really thinking about the benefits of a larger market, meaning, think about a market with a footprint that is larger than any one weather event.”

Energy Affordability Highlighted Again

Front and center at the CPUC is energy affordability.

John Reynolds will lead the effort to align infrastructure investments with affordability goals, and ensure utilities deliver results for ratepayers — without slowing California’s clean energy progress, Newsom’s office said in the release.

John Reynolds’ appointment “underscores a renewed focus on cutting costs and improving performance as extreme heat, wildfire risk, and upgrades to the electric grid drive new demands on the system,” Newsom’s office said.

“I look forward to continuing the state’s work to drive towards more affordable utility services while supporting safe and reliable infrastructure that delivers on our ambitious climate agenda,” John Reynolds said.

Christine Harada will join the CPUC as a commissioner. Harada is undersecretary of the California Government Operations Agency and previously was the senior advisor at the U.S. Office of Management and Budget from 2023 to 2025.