An influential legislator says he’ll introduce a bill in the next legislative session calling for the Vermont Public Service Board to be elected rather than appointed, as the utility regulation panel is now.
Sen. Vincent Illuzzi, chairman of the Senate Economic Development Committee, says he believes electing the board’s three members would make the panel more responsive to the public.
But David O’Brien, commissioner of the Department of Public Service, which represents consumers before the board, says he doesn’t see the need for the change.
O’Brien says the board as currently constituted does a good job balancing the needs of consumers against those of regulated utilities in the state.