Energy Division

About the CPUC Energy Division

Description of Energy Division

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) sets the policy and rules for regulated utility services that are essential to modern life for all Californians. The CPUC’s mission is to ensure safe, reliable, and affordable utility services.

The approximately 270 member staff of the CPUC’s Energy Division administer the policies that guide California’s nation-leading efforts in energy efficiency, customer-side energy generation, renewable energy, and the fight against climate change.

The Energy Division provides technical support to the Commissioners and their offices, and the Administrative Law Judges. We draft resolutions for formal consideration by the Commission. Resolutions generally result from informal utility requests called Advice Letters, which are submitted by utilities to request rate and tariff adjustments.

Through its Federal Policy and Ratemaking Section, the Energy Division also represents the Commission in Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and court proceedings.

Additionally, we assist the Commission in its regulation of four types of Investor-Owned Utilities (IOUs): Electric, Natural Gas, Steam and Petroleum Pipeline Companies. Commission-approved tariffs (official rates and terms of service) for these four types of IOUs are maintained by the Energy Division.

To support Energy Division’s legal mandates, we hire professionals with backgrounds in many fields including Public Policy, Public Administration, Economics, Finance, Political Science, Engineering, Environmental Studies, Law, and Business. We hire professionals with various levels of education and experience (i.e., BAs, MPAs, MBAs, and PhDs). These professionals fill various levels of Public Utilities Regulatory Analyst (PURA), Administration, and Utilities Engineer job classifications.

Before you are selected to become an Energy Division Professional, you will compete in an open, competitive civil service examination process, to establish eligibility for your targeted employment classification.

Come join us! We are setting the pace in California’s efforts to develop an electric grid powered by low cost, carbon-free electricity. Our development of these resources makes clean electricity accessible to all Californians. Electrifying California’s economy and building a reliable, safe, affordable, and clean electric grid of the future are cornerstones of both our climate leadership and economic plan for the future. To learn more about the important work we do, visit our Annual Reports page that highlight some of our activities: CPUC Annual Reports.

See the Energy Division Functional Organizational Chart and Energy Division's Personnel Organizational Chart

Jobs in the Energy Division at the California Public Utilities Commission

• Learn more about recruiting in the Energy Division
• Learn more about jobs in the Energy Division 
• Learn more about internships in the Energy Division

Contact Us

• Energy Division Inbox for General Inquiries
• Look up a staff member in our staff directory  
• Look up the CPUC address
• For media inquiries, contact our External Affairs Division: Terrie Prosper, tdp@cpuc.ca.gov  
• Contact our Office of Governmental Affairs for Legislation-related questions: Leo Stiles, Leo.Stiles@cpuc.ca.gov
• Contact our Speakers Bureau to request a speaker at your event
• Contact the Public Advisor's office for information about how to participate in our proceedings
• Contact the Consumer Affairs Branch for information about how to file a informal complaint  

Lead Staff

Leuwam Tesfai, Deputy Executive Director for Energy and Climate Policy

Office of Distributed Energy Resources, Natural Gas & Retail Energy Rates

• Director - Candace Morey (interim), Candace.Morey@cpuc.ca.gov 

Office of Electricity Supply, Planning and Cost

• Director - Molly Sterkel (interim), mts@cpuc.ca.gov

Office of Distributed Energy Resources, Natural Gas, and Retail Energy Rates 

Energy Efficiency Branch, Jeorge Tagnipes, jst@cpuc.ca.gov

• Emerging Trends Section, Hal Kane, hk1@cpuc.ca.gov
• Procurement & Portfolio Management Section, Coby Rudolph, jao@cpuc.ca.gov
• Evaluation Analytics Section, Jonathan Taffel, jonathan.taffel@cpuc.ca.gov
• Planning & Forecasting Section, Leanne Hoadley, lhy@cpuc.ca.gov

Building Decarbonization & Gas Policy Branch, Bruce Kaneshiro, bsk@cpuc.ca.gov

• Building Decarb & Renewable Gas Section, Nick Zanjani, nkz@cpuc.ca.gov
• Natural Gas Policy and Reliability, Jean Spencer, js5@cpuc.ca.gov
• Gas & Oil Pipeline Costs and Rates Section, Devla Singh, devla.singh@cpuc.ca.gov

Electric Rates, Customer Generation & Demand Response Branch, Dan Buch, db1@cpuc.ca.gov

• Demand Response, Maryam Mozafari, mm5@cpuc.ca.gov
• Customer Generation Section, Tory Francisco, tnf@cpuc.ca.gov
• Electric Retail Rates Section, Paul Phillips, psp@cpuc.ca.gov
• Rates Discount Section, Ankit Jain, aj7@cpuc.ca.gov

Distribution Planning Branch, Matthew Coldwell,mtc@cpuc.ca.gov

• Interconnection & Distribution Engineering Section, Caitlin Pollock, caitlin.pollock@cpuc.ca.gov
  
• Grid Planning, Energy Storage & Non-Wires Alternatives Section, Gabriel Petlin, gp1@cpuc.ca.gov  
• Grid Resiliency & Microgrids Section, Jason Ortego, jo4@cpuc.ca.gov
• Transportation Electrification, Em Traux (interim), em.traux@cpuc.ca.gov

Office of Electricity Supply, Planning, and Costs

Electric Costs & Retail Choice Branch, Michele Kito, mk1@cpuc.ca.gov 

• Electric Costs and Accountability Section, Franz Cheng, fcc@cpuc.ca.gov
• Electric General Rate Case Section, Jenny Au, jau@cpuc.ca.gov
• Retail Choice Section, Dina Mackin, dm1@cpuc.ca.gov
• Utility Costs and Compliance, Michael Conklin, Michael.Conklin@cpuc.ca.gov

Electric Planning & Market Design Branch, Nathan Barcic (Interim), nb1@cpuc.ca.gov

• Integrated Resource Planning Section - Planning Track, Jared Ferguson (interim) PPS, Jared.Ferguson@cpuc.ca.gov
• Integrated Resource Planning Section - Program Compliance, Christine Root, cro@cpuc.ca.gov
• Integrated Resource Planning Section - Transmission and Interconnection, Neil Raffan, neil.raffan@cpuc.ca.gov
  
• Resource Adequacy and Procurement Oversight, Jaime Rose Gannon, jrg@cpuc.ca.gov
• Energy Resource Modeling Section, Donald Brooks, dbr@cpuc.ca.gov

CEQA and FERC Branch, Elaine Sison-Lebrilla, es1@cpuc.ca.gov

• Infrastructure Planning & CEQA Section, Roxanne Henriquez, rhe@cpuc.ca.gov
• CEQA Broadband Section, Quint Chemnitz, quint.chemnitz@cpuc.ca.gov
  
• CEQA Energy & Permitting Section, Michelle Wilson, michelle.wilson@cpuc.ca.gov
• FERC Cost Recovery Section, Simon Hurd, sh6@cpuc.ca.gov

Climate Initiatives, Renewables & Administration Branch, Judith Ikle, jci@cpuc.ca.gov

• Renewables Procurement Section, Cheryl Lee, cnl@cpuc.ca.gov
• Climate and Equity Initiatives Section, Cheryl Cox, cxc@cpuc.ca.gov
• Budget & Tariff Section, Matthew Iribarne, mti@cpuc.ca.gov
• Personnel & Administration Section, Delia Drake, ddr@cpuc.ca.gov
• Budget & Administration Section, Medea Tsitskishvili, Medea.Tsitskishvili@cpuc.ca.gov