Gov. Chris Sununu has nominated NH Assistant Attorney General Mark Dell’Orfano to fill an open seat on the state’s Public Utilities Commission.

That agency regulates electric, gas, water and sewer utilities, and makes decisions that can have major impacts on the state’s energy landscape.

Prior to his time at the Department of Justice, Dell’Orfano worked on environmental and energy issues as an attorney at Sheehan Phinney. Prior to that, he spent 16 years at a firm based in Manchester, Sector Capital Group, according to Dell’Orfano’s LinkedIn. That firm, owned by family member William Dell’Orfano, was active in the energy and mining industries.

If confirmed, Dell’Orfano would fill the only open seat on the three-person Public Utilities Commission, which has faced pushback from a variety of advocates in recent weeks over changes to regulatory procedures seen by some as an effort to limit transparency.

Don Kreis, New Hampshire’s consumer advocate, said Dell’Orfano could have a unique position as the only lawyer on the commission. (The agency is required to have at least one lawyer sitting as a commissioner.)

“Without a lawyer up there on the bench, I think the Public Utilities Commission has been insufficiently attentive to the requirements of due process and fundamental fairness,” he said. “I’m hoping that a new commissioner with a legal background will help the commission get back on track.”

Dell’Orfano would take the seat of former commissioner Carleton Simpson, who resigned in August. His term would run through 2029.

Sam Evans-Brown, the director of Clean Energy New Hampshire, echoed Kreis’s concerns about the commission’s current direction. He said he was excited by Dell’Orfano’s nomination.

“I would say that it’s a real credit to the administration that the past couple nominees for PUC commissioner have been folks who really do have that energy industry experience that some of the earlier appointees lacked,” he said.

The current chair of the commission, Dan Goldner, did not have previous experience with energy markets before being appointed in April 2021. The other commissioner, Pradip Chattopadhyay, was confirmed in December 2021. He was previously an economist and served as an advisor on the Public Utilities Commission and as the state’s assistant Consumer Advocate.

Both current commissioners have salaries of about $140,000, as of 2023.

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