An official with a fossil fuel trade group sat in on interviews in January for top leadership roles on the Maryland Public Service Commission, the independent state agency that regulates the utility industry.

The commission is led by five governor-appointed commissioners.

Juan Alvarado, managing director of energy analysis at the American Gas Association, participated in interviews for six candidates at the PSC, according to documents obtained by the Energy and Policy Institute, a utility industry watchdog group.

Records indicate that Alvarado was the only nongovernment official to attend the interviews. The American Gas Association did not respond to a request for comment.

Tisha Edwards, a former secretary in the Moore administration’s appointments office, coordinated the interview process, PSC spokesperson Tori Leonard said in an email.

Edwards left the Moore administration in February to become CEO of the Maryland Bankers Association. She declined to comment through Bankers Association spokesperson Liz Frediani.

Ammar Moussa, a spokesperson for Moore, said in a statement to The Banner that consultants “have no decision-making role and no vote on placement.”

Moussa said it is “not uncommon” for industry experts to play advisory roles during the appointment process.

“Highly technical knowledge, like that required to serve on the PSC, requires appropriate insight to ensure appropriate placement,” he said.

Alvarado is a former employee of the PSC, starting as a regulatory economist in 2008. He left to join the American Gas Association, a leading national lobbyist for the natural gas industry, in July 2020.

This is not the first time that the Moore administration’s association with Alvarado has drawn scrutiny.

The Democratic governor nominated Alvarado to become a PSC commissioner in 2023 but withdrew the selection days later following swift criticism from environmental groups that argued that influence from the natural gas industry would hamper the state’s ambitious climate goals.

“Appointing a fox to oversee the henhouse raises a lot of red flags, and Sierra Club is deeply concerned about this decision’s implications,” Josh Tulkin, Maryland chapter director for the Sierra Club, said at the time.

According to the records obtained by the Energy and Policy Institute, Edwards had a meeting with Alvarado on Jan. 22 titled “PSC call,” less than a month before Moore announced his appointments.

One candidate who met with Alvarado, Ryan McLean, became a commissioner. Another, Odogwu Obi Linton, was selected to rejoin the PSC after last serving on it in 2023. A third, Michael Richard, was a commissioner at the time of the interview but was not reappointed to the PSC.

Alvarado also sat in on interviews with Brandon Bowles, a former manager at Pepco; Carla Pettus, an attorney with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC); and Stephanie Johnson, a former state energy and regulatory policy director at the Edison Electric Institute, a trade group for investor-owned electric utility companies.

Unusually expensive utility bills have incensed local residents and elected officials and are expected to be widely discussed again in the Maryland General Assembly session that starts next month.

A frigid start to this year’s winter season put natural gas and the PSC’s role in regulating utility companies back in the news.

Consumer advocates and Baltimore City Council President Zeke Cohen called on the agency last week to pause the next rate increase for Baltimore Gas and Electric gas customers.

This fall, the Public Service Commission began an extensive process of reviewing the plans of natural gas utilities and the implications for state climate goals. American Gas Association, Alvarado’s organization, is a party in those proceedings.

David Lapp, a state-appointed ratepayer advocate with the Maryland Office of the People’s Counsel, said Friday that he couldn’t comment directly on this situation but stressed the importance of objective regulators.

Lapp has estimated that BGE customers will likely be on the hook for around $19 billion from the utility company’s multidecade gas infrastructure plan.

Asked whether he has ever been invited to sit in on the interviews of prospective PSC commissioners, Lapp said he has not.

This article has been updated to be more precise about the outcome of the candidates who met with Alvarado.