INDIANAPOLIS — Commissioners were pitted against industry stakeholders in an energy-themed “Family Feud” event that lightheartedly capped off the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners’ Summer Policy Summit last week.
The game show Wednesday delivered a win for the “Legends” stakeholder group, who prevailed 541-483 against the “All-Stars” commissioner team.
The commissioner team consisted of Sarah Hoffman of Vermont, Judith Jagdmann of Virginia, Paul Kjellander of Idaho, Kim O’Guinn of Arkansas and Brandon Presley of Mississippi. The stakeholder team — itself heavy with ex-regulators — included Paladin Energy Strategies’ Kevin Gunn, PJM’s Asim Haque, Edison Electric Institute’s Philip Moeller and the National Association of Water Companies’ Robert Powelson.
NARUC staff polled roughly 100 NARUC attendees for answers.
“This is not the [Richard] Dawson era; I will not be kissing anyone,” joked game show host Nick Wagner, NARUC president and Iowa Utilities Board member.
Questions ranged from “Name a reason a commissioner would wake up at 2 a.m.” to “What are the common causes of power outages” to “What item in the house uses the most energy.”
“What kind of coffeemaker do you have?” Wagner joked after Haque’s answer to the last question.
“Are these planned or unplanned outages?” O’Guinn laughed as she asked for clarification.
The All-Stars team took one round of the close game when Moeller took too long to answer.
“The Sopranos!” Kjellander shouted to a buzzer sound when asked what TV show mostly resembles his office. Other answers thrown out were “Game of Thrones,” “The Office” and “The Bachelorette.” Both teams failed to guess the remaining answer: “The Walking Dead.”
— Amanda Durish Cook
