Why Should Delaware Care?
The public advocate is responsible for representing the public’s interests when utility rates increase in the state. The nomination of a new public advocate comes at a time when Delawareans are facing dramatic increases in their utility bills.
Gov. Matt Meyer has nominated a longtime environmental lawyer as Delaware’s consumer utility advocate, who is responsible for representing the public when electricity and gas companies want to raise power rates.
If confirmed as Delaware’s Public Advocate, Jameson Tweedie, a former Delaware Department of Justice environmental lawyer, would serve as the main counterweight against utility companies that have been at the center of public outrage and legislative scrutiny in recent months over dramatic power bill increases.
The nomination comes more than a month after Meyer said he would make an announcement on the position.
“Amidst soaring energy costs, everyday Delawareans and small businesses need someone at the table fighting on their behalf,” Meyer said in a statement. “As Delaware’s Public Advocate, Jameson Tweedie will hold utility companies accountable by aggressively challenging unfair rate hikes while advocating for greater affordability and transparency.”
If confirmed by the Delaware Senate, Tweedie will replace the current public advocate, Ruth Ann Price, who has long served in an acting capacity after former Senate-confirmed Public Advocate Drew Slater stepped down.
When asked how many candidates were considered for the nomination, Mila Myles, a spokeswoman for the governor, said “several qualified candidates were interviewed” but that Tweedie “stood out because of his passion, experience and area expertise.”
“Governor Meyer thanks current advocate Ruth Ann Price for her service to the state,” Myles added.
Myles also said Tweedie would not be available for an interview until after his confirmation.
Who is Tweedie?
Tweedie is an environmental attorney and certified climate change professional who has a focus on climate change and energy law.
He most recently served as a senior staff attorney at the State Energy & Environmental Impact Center, a nonpartisan academic center at the New York University School of Law.
Prior to that, Tweedie spent six years in the Environmental Unit of the Delaware Department of Justice, where he served in leadership roles. He represented the state in litigation and advised on a number of landmark environmental policies, including the development of the first Climate Action Plan, the overhaul of the Coastal Zone Act, and passage of the Delaware Climate Solutions Act of 2023.
He also contributed to the state’s consideration of offshore wind, decarbonization of transportation, energy efficiency, and other matters.
Before joining the DOJ, Tweedie spent a decade in private practice at two major Wilmington law firms: McCarter & English and Richards, Layton & Finger. Through that period he held leadership positions in both the Delaware State Bar Association’s Environment Section and the American Bar Association’s Committee on Climate Change, Sustainable Development and Ecosystems.
He earned his law degree from Washington & Lee University School of Law in 2006 and interned with the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Nominee for a hot seat
Tweedie would enter the role just as scrutiny and outcry over utility prices boils over in public and in the legislature.
In recent months, Delaware legislators introduced a package of four bills that sponsors say would increase transparency around rising energy prices, and add additional layers of review.
One of the pieces of legislation, introduced by State Sen. Stephanie Hansen (D-Middletown), would change how the state’s Public Service Commission, which regulates public utilities, considers proposed power rate increases.
Delaware currently operates on a “business judgment rule,” which essentially asks whether an investment made by a utility company was in its best interests as a company. The law, if passed, would apply a stricter “prudence” rule, which asks if it was in the best interests of consumers for an investment.
Delaware is one of only two states to not use the prudence standard, which bill sponsors argue makes it too easy for utilities to justify expenses to be recouped by rate hikes.
“The reality is that public utilities are regulated monopolies. Practically speaking, a public utility company like Delmarva Power has no competition in its service territory and, therefore, does not face the economic risks that a for-profit, non-utility company must face,” Hansen said in a statement at the time.
Hansen introduced the bill after widespread public outrage first erupted in January over power bills.
Representatives for Delmarva Power have blamed a spike in electricity bills on increased usage during winter months. They also have noted that the electricity supply is limited for what they expect will be future surges in demand.
At a Senate hearing in February, an executive for Delaware’s regional power grid operator said several power plants have been proposed to be built across the region and cumulatively could produce enough electricity for roughly 40 million homes, but that those plants are being held up due to a litany of reasons.
Last summer, Spotlight Delaware reported that Delaware energy rates would increase after a federal appeals court ruled that the results of a flawed energy auction would stand, likely costing utility companies in the region $100 million more than they would have paid otherwise.
Later in the summer, a separate energy auction also returned abnormally high prices. In response, governors in five states, including Delaware’s then-Gov. John Carney, sent a letter to the region’s grid operator, PJM Interconnection, that spelled out a foreboding future for homes and businesses unless the company urgently acted to “prevent consumers from paying billions more than is necessary.”
In August, an executive at Delmarva Power’s parent company, Exelon Corp., told investors that there likely will be double-digit increases on customer bills in certain jurisdictions within the PJM power grid, which extends from the coastal mid-Atlantic to parts of Indiana and Illinois.
