Rebecca Cameron Valcq has spent most of her career representing We Energies.
For the most part, Gov. Tony Evers has gotten high marks for his nominations for cabinet secretaries and other high-ranking political appointees. The worst criticism that Assembly Speaker Robin Vos has had is that he thinks too many of Evers’ picks are from Madison and Milwaukee.
But there is at least one selection that is raising eyebrows. Evers chose Rebecca Cameron Valcq to be chair of the Public Service Commission. A Milwaukee attorney, Cameron Valcq has spent virtually her entire career representing WE Energies, Wisconsin’s largest utility and the one that advocates say is the most hostile to consumers. She first worked as its in-house regulatory attorney and later represented it as a member of the big law firm Quarles & Brady.
“We were surprised to see the appointment of someone with such an extensive background working on behalf of the state’s largest and most profitable utility,” says Tom Content, executive director of Citizens Utility Board. “And some of our members also shared this concern with us.”
One could argue that utility issues are complex and that Cameron Valcq’s experience makes her a good choice. But Content says, “There are plenty of people with a background in the industry and with experience working with or on behalf of consumers.”
And, in fact, WE Energies is an especially questionable actor among Wisconsin utilities. In 2011, just after Gov. Scott Walker took office, the utility made a unilateral decision to renege halfway through a $60-million commitment to fund renewable energy projects. WE made that commitment to consumer and environmental groups in exchange for their promise not to challenge a big new coal plant in southeast Wisconsin. The groups kept their side of the deal, but WE broke its promise in a year when it had record profits and was asking for another customer rate increase. And since 2011 there have been ongoing concerns from the plant’s neighbors about coal dust pollution.
Cameron Valcq’s PSC office said that Cameron Valcq was not involved in either of these controversies when she was with the utility.
Walker did not insist that his nominees have experience in the industry. The two holdover commissioners appointed by him, Mike Huebsch and Ellen Nowak, were Republican political operatives with no prior experience in utility regulation. That can actually be a plus. Cameron Valcq must follow PSC policy and recuse herself from cases involving her former employer and right now there are 45 such cases before the PSC. So, even if she took a pro-consumer posture she couldn’t bring her expertise to bear in a large number of cases.
Not everyone on the consumer or environmental advocacy side is critical of the appointment. “We believe she will be a smart, thoughtful commissioner who can help re-establish Wisconsin’s position in the clean energy economy,” says Mark Redsten, president and CEO of Clean Wisconsin. “Her background gives her insights into utility decision-making and renewable energy that could bring a valuable perspective as utilities transition to more clean energy options.”
And even Content reports that an initial meeting with Cameron Valcq was encouraging. But Redsten’s predecessor, Peter Anderson, is not as sanguine. Anderson, 72, founded the organization that became Clean Wisconsin. Today he is semi-retired but volunteers for 350 Madison, a local offshoot of 350.org, founded by environmental advocate and author Bill McKibben to fight climate change.
“It’s important to hit the ground running,” says Anderson, “but not in the wrong direction.”
He says that Cameron Valcq should be pressed to give her positions on two major policy questions. The first is that some utilities have proposed sharp increases to the flat rates they charge customers to connect to the grid — which in turn discourages customers from investing in solar panels and other conservation measures because they won’t recoup those investments as quickly.
Anderson says that the second big issue involves the ability of third parties to install solar panels on homes and collect and sell the energy. That is a disruptive idea that has the potential to dramatically increase the use of solar power by lowering its cost, but utilities hate it because they say it violates the monopoly and its guaranteed profit that they are granted in state law.
State Sen. Janet Bewley (D-Mason), who sits on the committee in charge of reviewing the PSC nomination, said that she would ask Cameron Valcq those questions when a public hearing on the nomination takes place. A hearing has not yet been scheduled.
“It’s not fair to prejudge [Cameron Valcq], but she can’t not tell us what her positions are,” says Anderson.
Cameron Valcq may have already hinted at an answer to the second of Anderson’s issues. In her first PSC vote she sided with the third-party company SunRun, which wants to lease solar panels on homes, though the question was not on the substance, but only on whether the PSC should hear the case. SunRun lost that decision as the two Walker nominees sided with the utilities.
Evers’ office would not answer specific questions about his appointment, including why he appointed someone with ties to the industry she’s regulating. His office also ignored a request for a list of others who applied. An open records request has been pending since Feb. 6.
Evers’ spokesperson offered this response. “The governor is proud to have Rebecca Cameron Valcq as part of his administration and knows that she will be an important leader as our state works towards responsible resource use and energy innovation,” wrote Melissa Baldauff. “Under Commissioner Valcq, who is the first Latina appointed to serve as chair of the Public Service Commission, the governor expects that the PSC will be proactive and engage in a robust exchange of ideas with all stakeholders.”