One-year appointment provides ‘important seat at the table’
Iowa Utilities Commission Chair Sarah Martz has been appointed to serve on the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) Federal and State Current Issues Collaborative, NARUC announced this month.
NARUC provides two state commission representatives to the Collaborative from each of the five NARUC regions. Iowa is part of the Mid-America Regulatory Conference (MARC).
Martz will serve a one-year appointment on the Collaborative, which was established by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in March 2024. It is the most recent effort that brings together federal and state utility regulators, following the Joint Federal-State Task Force on Electric Transmission that concluded last year.
“For more than 100 years, state public utility commissioners have planned, managed, studied, and led our nation’s essential energy services,” NARUC President Tricia Pridemore said in announcing the appointments. “This year’s state members of the FERC-NARUC Collaborative carry on this legacy and establish critical communications with federal partners.”
At the Commission’s monthly meeting on September 10, IUC Commissioner Josh Byrnes emphasized the importance of Chair Martz’s role with the Collaborative, noting that “it’s really important for the State of Iowa that we have a seat at that table.”
“For the next year, Chair Martz will be at that table having the important conversations,” Byrnes said. “That presence matters — for our industry, for the ratepayers, and for the utilities we regulate — because it ensures Iowa’s voice is part of the ongoing dialogue and collaboration with the FERC Commissioners.”
Martz, who began serving with the IUC in 2023, said she is honored to have been named onto the Collaborative and is excited to represent Iowa’s interests at the state and federal venue.
The appointment runs through August 2026.
Additional regional representatives
Commissioner Stacey Paradis of the Illinois Commerce Commission is the second MARC region representative on the Collaborative. Other regions’ representatives who were appointed are:
• Mid-Atlantic Conference of Regulatory Utility Commissioners: Kelsey Bagot, Virginia State Corporation Commission, and Kathryn Zerfuss, Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission
• New England Conference of Public Utility Commissioners: Philip L. Bartlett II, Maine Public Service Commission, and Pradip Chattopadhyay, New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission
• Southeastern Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners: Karen Kemerait, North Carolina Utilities Commission, and Gabriella Passidomo Smith, Florida Public Service Commission
• Western Conference of Public Service Commissioners: Nick Myers, Arizona Corporation Commission, and Brian Rybarik, Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission