Benjamin Menzies

Ben first joined the Commission in 2018 as Assistant Chief of Staff to Commissioner Martha Guzman Aceves. Since then, he has worked in multiple roles at the Commission, including as an analyst for the Energy Division’s Retail Rates Team, an advisor to Executive Director Rachel Peterson, and most recently as Senior Policy Advisor in Communications Division. In those roles, he has worked on a wide range of issues before the Commission, including reducing disconnections of energy customers, providing relief for customers facing high arrearages accrued during the COVID-19 Pandemic, interagency coordination of electric utility Wildfire Mitigation Plans, improving affordability of utility service, implementation of the Commission’s Environmental and Social Justice Action Plan 2.0, modernization of Carrier of Last Resort obligations for telecommunications providers, and execution of California’s historic investments in deploying broadband infrastructure.

Originally from Nevada City, California, Ben holds a B.A. with Honors in Religion from Whitman College and a Master of Public Policy degree from UC Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy, where he served as editor-in-chief of the Berkeley Public Policy Journal and a shop steward for UAW 2865, a union representing academic student employees. Before joining the Commission, Ben served as Finance Budget Analyst at the California Department of Finance and an Executive Fellow in the Office of Governor Jerry Brown. He lives in Sacramento.