Schwarzenegger puts Poizner, Grueneich on PUC

The California Public Utilities Commission is starting to look more Schwarzeneggerian as the California Governor replaced two Gray Davis appointees on the board:

Schwarzenegger's choices for the PUC are Steve Poizner, 47, of Los Gatos, a Republican businessman who made a fortune in the telecommunications industry and ran unsuccessfully this year for the state Assembly, and Dian Grueneich, 52, of Berkeley, a Democratic lawyer who runs an energy and environmental consulting firm that counts the University of California among its clients.

Both have supported so-called direct-access electricity purchasing, which allows big businesses to shop around for electricity, an idea generally favored by independent energy companies and opposed by utilities and consumer groups.

Poizner set out his views while campaigning this year and Grueneich has backed the idea on behalf of her clients. Both nominees also have promoted expanding reliance on environmentally friendly renewable energy.

They would replace commission Chairwoman Loretta Lynch and Commissioner Carl Wood, appointees of former Gov. Gray Davis, whose terms expire Jan. 1.

Lynch and Wood are considered the most likely on the five-member panel to agitate on behalf of consumer groups against business interests.

The new appointees could shift the regulatory commission to better embody Schwarzenegger's philosophy, one that looks dubiously on organized labor and argues that consumers are better served by a free-market system that encourages outside companies to do business in the state.