The New Jersey Senate approved two new commissioners — Christine Guhl-Sadovy and Marian Abdou — for the state Board of Public Utilities (BPU) Monday, bringing the five-member board to full strength as it heads the state’s ambitious clean energy program.

Former Commissioner Robert Gordon | NJ BPU

Guhl-Sadovy, who has a history of working in clean energy and most recently was cabinet secretary for Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy, will replace Robert Gordon, a Murphy appointee whose term expired March 15. The Senate backed her with a 22-14 vote that ran along party lines; Abdou, who drew support from both parties, was confirmed by a 30-0 vote.

Abdou, managing senior counsel at NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG), will replace Dianne Solomon, who was nominated by Republican Gov. Chris Christie in 2013 and whose term expires in October 2024. Abdou has also worked at Direct Energy and Hess Corp.

The two commissioners will join the BPU as it implements an extensive portfolio of clean energy projects in line with the policies of Murphy, who outlined a plan in February for the state to accelerate its carbon reduction programs and reach 100% clean energy by 2035. Murphy had previously set out a goal in the Energy Master Plan of 100% clean energy by 2050.

Electric Transmission Policy

The projects include a third solicitation for offshore wind projects to help the state reach a goal of 11 GW, and implementation of new solar incentive programs, including a permanent community solar and grid-scale solar initiatives. The agency also is overseeing a host of incentive programs to promote the purchase of electric vehicles and the installation of chargers, and a push to replace fossil fuel boilers and heating systems with electric systems.

Commissioner Dianne Solomon | NJ BPU

The BPU is also faced with engineering an upgrade to the state grid necessitated by increased amounts of variable renewable generation.

Last week, FERC appointed BPU President Joseph L. Fiordaliso to the Joint Federal-State Task Force on Electric Transmission. The agency focuses on topics related to planning and paying for transmission — including facilitating generator interconnection — that provides benefits from a federal and state perspective.  

Fiordaliso, who was nominated by the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, has frequently expressed concern about the ability of New Jersey’s grid to handle the extra load of the state’s rapidly expanding clean energy generation sector.  Fiordaliso and Commissioner John B. Howard of the New York Public Service Commission will replace Chair Jason Stanek of the Maryland Public Service Commission, and Chair Gladys Brown Dutrieuille of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission.

Both resigned from the task force effective May 1, 2023; Fiordaliso and Howard will serve the remainder of their predecessors’ one-year terms, which expire on Aug. 31, 2023.

The Task Force is comprised of all FERC Commissioners, as well as representatives from 10 state commissions.

Implications for New Jersey

Murphy nominated Guhl-Sadovy and Abdou in March, and they secured approval from the Senate Judiciary Hearing on March 20 in the face of some skepticism from both Democrats and Republicans. GOP lawmakers then stymied an effort to use an accelerated schedule to get the nominations approved at a senate session the same day.

Guhl-Sadovy joined the Murphy administration at the BPU, where she rose to the position of chief of staff to Fiordaliso, according to her biography on the state website. She helped “spearhead” Murphy’s clean energy agenda, working on the governor’s 2019 Master Plan, the implementation of the 2018 Clean Energy Act and the development of the state’s EV incentive plan, according to the website.

She previously had spent five years advocating for clean energy policies at the New Jersey branch of the Sierra Club, where she worked on the Beyond Coal campaign, which seeks to close all the coal-fired plants in the U.S. Subsequent to that, Guhl-Sadovy was political director for Planned Parenthood Action Fund of New Jersey and worked to elect pro-women’s health candidates, according to the site.

Guhl-Sadovy told the Judiciary Committee that she considered the position “the opportunity of a lifetime.”

“Climate change has far-reaching impacts globally and severe implications for New Jersey,” she said. “We cannot afford inaction. That’s why I’m proud to serve in Governor Murphy’s administration, where we have put New Jersey at the forefront of addressing climate impacts by investing in clean energy.”

Abdou joined NRG in 2016 and has worked on a variety of commercial issues affecting the company’s generation assets and provided legal support to both the development and energy services groups, according to Murphy’s office. The company generates electricity and provides energy solutions and natural gas to millions of customers, according to the company website. NRG operates 10 natural gas plants, a nuclear plant, a solar plant and four coal plants, according to the site.

Abdou said that after her career as a “corporate generalist,” she believed the skills she accrued would serve her well on the BPU.

“I do not take lightly the responsibilities of the position for which I have been nominated,” she said “While at present time I am not a subject-matter expert on the inner workings of the BPU, I pledge that if confirmed I will apply the same skills that I have used throughout my professional legal career — namely, I will educate myself on the facts, give due consideration to the facts at hand, and used a measured and balanced approach to reach a conclusion.”

More Than Science and Policy

Both Democrats and Republicans sitting on the Senate Judiciary Committee had concerns.

Sen. Jon M. Bramnick (R), said that when he interviewed Abdou he assumed that Murphy would pick someone “who wasn’t going to be fair or objective” but support his “fairly extreme” policies. He said he went through the policies with her “and I got no sense that you had a preconceived opinion prior to going on this board, your background was corporate, it was very objective, and actually the least political person I have met.

“You knew nothing about the politics, nothing about the process, actually nothing about the whales, nothing about the windmills, and nothing about electrifying the entire State of New Jersey,” Bramnick said in the hearing. “So, I felt that was a good start. Let’s be clear. We hope, and I am sure you will be, that objective person.”

Before supporting the two nominations, Sen. Paul Sarlo (D), said he supports clean energy, but has concerns that as commissioners they and their board colleagues need to take a broader view of the impact of their decisions than simply the science and logic.

“I don’t want people to think that we’re going there to make an eighth-grade science project,” he said. “We have to be practical. I implore all those who serve on the BPU: There’s much more to the science and the policy. There’s a practicality aspect, and there’s a cost aspect, and we have to make sure we balance the needs of both of them.”