by Dana Gentry, Nevada Current
Gov. Joe Lombardo announced Wednesday he’s appointing Randy Brown, who served as Regulatory and Legislative Affairs Director for AT&T as recently as this year, to fill a vacancy on the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada.
Brown is a certified public accountant who lives in Reno.
“Randy is a trusted and respected industry leader, and he brings decades of regulatory experience to this position,” Lombardo said in a news release. “I’m grateful for Randy’s willingness to serve his fellow Nevadans on this critical commission, and I look forward to his thoughtful contributions in his new role,”
Lombardo did not immediately respond to requests for comment on whether Brown’s decades of employment with AT&T, a regulated company, raised concerns about his impartiality.
Lombardo’s spokeswoman Elizabeth Ray says AT&T is not regulated. However, PUC spokesman Peter Kostes says “the Commission’s regulation of AT&T’s services is limited mostly to enforcement of provider of last resort obligations and compliance with requirements for interconnection between AT&T and its competitors.”
As a member of the PUC, Brown will be charged with balancing the interests of ratepayers with those of shareholders in private, regulated companies such as AT&T. Nevadans are struggling to pay recent increases in utility rates, with more increases in the regulatory pipeline.
A vacancy on the PUC since Aug.1 resulted in the temporary appointment of hearing master Sam Crano to cast the deciding vote in favor of NV Energy’s contentious bid to have ratepayers in Southern Nevada subsidize the utility’s disaster prevention efforts in Northern Nevada.
Intervening parties, including resorts and the Attorney General’s Office of the Consumer Advocate, have appealed the PUC’s ruling, alleging in part that Crano’s appointment was statutorily unnecessary, and because Crano, an attorney, would not have been eligible for Lombardo’s appointment on the commission. Nevada law requires that no more than two commissioners be of the same profession. Crano is an attorney, as are Chairwoman Hayley Williamson and Commissioner Tammy Cordova.
The motion for reconsideration is expected to be heard Oct. 17 and would be Brown’s first test as a commissioner. His service begins Oct. 1.
“I’m honored to serve on the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada, and I thank Governor Lombardo for his confidence in me,” Brown said in the governor’s news release. “I’m eager to get to work executing the mission of the PUCN to ensure safe operation and fair regulation of public utilities in our state.”
Brown has served as a commissioner on the Nevada Tax Commission since 2017.
Note: This story was updated with comment from Lombardo’s spokeswoman and PUCN public information officer Peter Kostes.
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