BOISE, Idaho — This article originally appeared in the Idaho Press.
Paul Kjellander has worn all but two of the badges donned in the Idaho Legislature.
He wore the brown badge as a reporter with Boise State Public Radio, then the black badge as a state representative. As an administrator for Idaho’s Office for Energy Management, he wore a green and white badge, and he has worn the red badge while working as a commissioner for the state’s public utilities commission. The only two badges he hasn’t worn are the senator’s badge, and the lobbyist badge, neither of which he has plans to wear, he said.
Kjellander is about to retire from his role with the public utilities commission after a collective 19 years of service.
“It’s been great to be a part of what’s happening, and there’s so much more coming down the pike,” Kjellander said. “The last 10 years have been anything but boring, and the next 10 are going to be ten-fold in terms of the amount of work that’s going to rest in the laps of regulators and states as they look to deal with a lot of the issues associated with the next generation of energy resources.”
When Gov. Dirk Kempthorne originally asked Kjellander if he’d like to join the commission, he thought it sounded like a good challenge. He served between 1999 to 2007, and again from 2011 to the present.
Idaho’s Public Utilities Commission, of which Kjellander is one of three members, is presented with cases related to utilities in the state, and make decisions that regulate how those utilities operate.
The role is similar to being a judge, Kjellander said, though he does not have judicial experience, he added. He recalled how reading some of his earliest cases, involving mergers between utilities, taught him how utilities operate.
“It really was a baptism by fire and drinking from a fire hose in the beginning,” Kjellander said.
Since the early days, Kjellander has worked on thousands of formal orders involving utility cases with the commission. The job has been an excellent way to be a “life-long learner," he said.
He has also served as the president of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, composed of commissioners from across the country who regulate utilities.
Utilities have faced varying challenges since Kjellander was first appointed. About 8 years ago, many utilities started seeing the writing on the wall, Kjellander said: There was too much risk in continuing to invest in carbon-intensive resources, and investors were no longer keen on funding new projects of that kind, Kjellander said.
“As you look to the next generation of resources, you have to look at what’s going to fill that gap when coal-fired generation goes away,” Kjellander said.
Discussions have focused on how renewable energy, hydrogen-based power, nuclear power, and improved battery storage can help meet that need, Kjellander said. But bringing technologies to scale is not easy, and innovation is expensive, he said. It can be especially challenging for utilities to integrate new energy technologies without prohibitively increasing the rates customers pay, he said.
Idaho has some of the lowest utility rates in the nation, but it still faces upward pressure on rates, he said. And in addition to integrating new technologies, Idaho has the added challenge of meeting the state's growing energy needs as new residents and industries come to the state, he said.
Though Kjellander is retiring from the commission and state service, he plans to do some utility-related contract work and stay engaged in the energy sector. He is also an accomplished painter, with about 10 paintings currently displayed at the Idaho State Capitol building. He estimates he has painted approximately 40 paintings since the COVID-19 pandemic began and looks forward to continuing the hobby in retirement.
This article originally appeared in the Idaho Press. Read more at IdahoPress.com
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