A Republican member of the state Board of Public Utilities has stepped down, leaving two seats open on the five-member board at time when it faces a handful of controversial issues.
At the BPU’s July 16 meeting, Marian Abdou announced that she is stepping down immediately for family reasons. Abdou came to the board in 2023 as a replacement for Dianne Solomon, who had served as a commissioner since 2013.
The board has had a vacancy since the September 2023 death of previous board President Joseph Fiordaliso. Gov. Phil Murphy named then-board member Christine Guhl-Sadovy to replace Fiordaliso as president but never subsequently filled the resulting board vacancy.
For a period it looked as if Murphy would place long-time staff member Stephanie Lagos in the seat, but Lagos remains deputy chief of staff to Murphy and chief of staff for first lady Tammy Murphy.
The BPU regulates utility services in New Jersey for electricity, natural gas, water, cable television and telecommunications. The president of the BPU is a member of the governor’s cabinet.
This is a difficult time for another vacancy on the board to occur, given that commissioners are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Senate. Murphy has only months left in his term and may not have either the inclination or time left to make nominations and see them through confirmation.
Board members are full-time commissioners barred from other employment; their salary is $175,000. They serve a six-year term unless appointed to fill a vacancy, when they initially serve only the remaining portion of the unexpired term.
The current board does not have long-serving members, with Zenon Christodoulou, a commissioner since August 2022, its longest-serving member. There are now two Democrats and one Republican on the board.
A reduced board is facing many controversial issues, among them the electricity rate crisis, a legislative requirement that the board conduct an investigation of potential market manipulation by regional grid operator PJM Interconnection and a pending request for a distribution rate increase of 8% by Atlantic City Electric.
The board has become a lightning rod in the many controversies surrounding electricity supply imbalances that appear to be at the heart of soaring consumer prices. In February Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-2) called on the board members to resign. The board was also regularly faulted by opponents of the state’s push for offshore wind farms, pressure that has abated only because the offshore wind projects off the New Jersey coast have now run afoul of a hostile federal government that is refusing permits.
Contact the reporter, Vince Conti, at vconti@cmcherald.com.