Gov. Davis announced today his appointment of Mike Peevey as Commissioner at the CPUC to replace Com. Bilas who resigned last week.  Mr. Peevey is the former President of Southern California Edison and as such advocated deregulation.  Consumer group advocates are concerned about his past record and oppose his nomination which is subject to state Senate approval.  Below is an article from the Sacramento Bee.  gh


Davis names ex-Edison chief to PUC
But the action stirs anger: 'Our worst nightmare,' says a consumer lawyer.
By Stuart Leavenworth -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 5:30 a.m. PST Wednesday, March 6, 2002
Gov. Gray Davis has appointed a former president of Southern California Edison to a state panel charged with regulating Edison and other public utilities.
Davis said Michael R. Peevey would bring "more than three decades of experience" to the Public Utilities Commission -- experience that immediately came under fire from the state's consumer groups.
Mike Florio, a lawyer for The Utility Reform Network, said Peevey has a record, both in government and in business, of pushing for higher rates for small businesses and residential consumers.
"This is a our worst nightmare," Florio said. "It is like putting Dr. Kevorkian in charge of a nursing home."
Others were more supportive. D.J. Smith, a lobbyist who represents large industrial energy users, lauded Peevey as someone "who understands all sides of the energy business" and will be fair to all sides.
"I think he will be objective about Edison because he doesn't owe Edison anything," said Smith, noting that Peevey left the Southern California utility nine years ago.
The husband of Assemblywoman Carol Liu, D-South Pasadena, Peevey replaces PUC Commissioner Richard Bilas, who resigned last week. Bilas was appointed by Gov. Pete Wilson.
If confirmed by the state Senate, Peevey will solidify Davis' control over the PUC, a five-member board that now includes three of the governor's appointees. It also comes at a time when the commission is fighting with the state's other large utility, Pacific Gas and Electric Co., on terms for PG&E's reorganization in federal bankruptcy court.
PG&E spokesman Ron Low declined to comment on the appointment Tuesday, but last year Peevey was involved with a handshake deal that might have helped PG&E avoid bankruptcy.
Hired by Davis to negotiate with the utility, Peevey reportedly struck a deal with PG&E Chairman Bob Glynn that would have let PG&E charge ratepayers for all its costs of buying wholesale electricity. But other Davis advisers objected to the deal and the negotiations ultimately fell apart.
For three years, Peevey was president of Edison International and Southern California Edison before leaving in 1993 in a reported power struggle with company Chairman John Bryson.
Peevey then became a public affairs consultant and then president of NewEnergy Inc., an energy service provider that was sold in 1999 to AES Corp. After working as an adviser to Davis, he had been CEO of TruePricing Inc. and also has served on the board of Excelergy Corp., an energy software company.
With his new six-year PUC job, Peevey will regulate not only electric utilities but telecommunications giants, water companies, natural gas supplies and other industries.
After a review by PUC lawyers, Peevey will have to divest holdings and resign from positions that could cause a conflict, Davis spokesman Steve Maviglio said.
Peevy's appointment was one of two Davis made Tuesday. He also appointed John L. Geesman to the board of the Independent System Operator, which manages most of the state power grid.
Since 1985, Geesman has been the managing director of fixed income banking for RBC Dain Rauscher Inc. in San Francisco. He once served on TURN's board.
Consumer groups, which had pressed for a meeting with Davis for the past week, said the he may have timed his Election Day appointment of Peevey to minimize negative media coverage.
Maviglio called that claim "ludicrous." Today's papers, he said, "will be some of the best read this year."