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Indiana officials on Thursday named nine finalists for three open seats on the powerful Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission, which oversees electric, gas, water and telecommunications rates across the state.
The finalists were announced publicly in Indianapolis and are Nathan Cazee, Christopher Lewis, Anthony Swinger, Joshua Bain, Sen. Andy Zay, Alfonso Vidal, Bob Deig, Carolene Mays and Elizabeth Walker. They were selected from a pool of 47 applicants by the state’s Utility Regulatory Nominating Committee, which interviewed 22 candidates over the last month.
The commission’s makeup has to include members of both political parties, so the first six recommendations are for two Republican seats and the final three are for a Democratic appointment.
“We had an extremely difficult time,” said Suzanne Jaworowski, Indiana’s secretary of Energy and Natural Resources and chair of the nominating committee, citing the strong field of candidates. She said there is no statutory timeline for when Gov. Mike Braun will make his selections.
The IURC plays a critical role in setting the rates and service standards for Indiana’s regulated utilities. Commissioners are appointed by the governor. The new members will help guide state energy policy at a time of mounting public concern over rising electricity and natural gas bills.
Cazee works for the air-quality company Daikin Applied in southern Indiana, while Lewis currently serves as a technical advisor for the IURC. Swinger has spent more than 25 years with the Indiana Office of Utility Consumer Counselor, which represents ratepayers in commission cases. Bain is a member of the Indianapolis City-County Council, and Zay has represented portions of northeast Indiana in the state Senate since 2016.
The other finalists include Vidal, a southern Indiana businessman; Deig, a former state senator and Posey County official; Mays, a former state representative and small-business owner who previously served on the IURC; and Walker, an attorney for the Indiana Professional Licensing Agency.
The nominating committee’s recommendations now go to Braun, who will decide which candidates to appoint. Although the committee operates under a defined application and interview schedule, the governor faces no deadline to make his choices.
In announcing the search earlier this fall, the administration pointed to widespread frustration among Hoosiers over rising utility costs. The IURC, by law, is intended to serve as an impartial arbiter — “an advocate of neither the public nor the utilities” — but its decisions often draw scrutiny from consumer advocates and lawmakers alike.
The Indiana Capital Chronicle is an independent, nonprofit news organization that covers state government, policy and elections.
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