Senior Advisors Ted Thomas, Tremaine Phillips, and Chris Villarreal bring decades of utility regulatory experience and expertise to guide PowerLines’ work.
PowerLines, a national energy consumer education nonprofit, is announcing the addition of three utility experts — Ted Thomas, Tremaine Phillips, and Chris Villarreal — to its team as Senior Advisors to expand PowerLines’ technical expertise throughout its work across the country.
The three bring decades of experience in utility regulation, spanning expertise across grid modernization, utility business models, and consumer protection. Their involvement comes as regulators and policymakers face heightened scrutiny over rising utility bills and utility spending and growing pressure to strengthen oversight to protect consumers.
“State utility commissions decide what Americans pay for power every month. Consumers too often get left out of that math,” said Ted Thomas, former chairman of the Arkansas Public Service Commission. “I’m proud to join PowerLines as it leads the charge to put consumers front and center.”
“We are at a crossroads with our utility regulatory system,” said Tremaine Phillips, former Michigan Public Service Commissioner. “PowerLines stands ready to support policymakers and regulators in fulfilling a mission of serving the public.”
“Utility regulation touches everything from grid investment to who ends up paying for it, but decision-makers are often working with only part of the picture,” said Chris Villarreal, veteran utility regulatory and policy expert. “PowerLines helps connect those dots so regulators and policymakers can see the full process, not just the piece in front of them.”
“There has never been a more important time to ensure that our utility regulatory system puts consumers at the center of decision making,” said Charles Hua, Founder and Executive Director of PowerLines. “Ted, Tremaine, and Chris bring hard-won experience from inside these systems, and we are privileged to have their expertise as we scale our work.”
Ted Thomas
Ted Thomas is a Senior Advisor to PowerLines. He is a former Chairman of the Arkansas Public Service Commission and served in a variety of leadership roles including president of the Organization of MISO States and member of the Federal-State Joint Task Force on Transmission. Thomas previously served as Budget Director for Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, and was a member of the Arkansas House of Representatives, where he chaired the State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee. Ted holds a B.A. from the University of Arkansas and a J.D. from the University of Arkansas School of Law.
Tremaine Phillips
Tremaine Phillips is a Senior Advisor to PowerLines. He previously served as a Commissioner on the Michigan Public Service Commission. During his tenure, he also served on the Board of Directors of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC), the Board of Directors of the Organization of PJM States (OPSI), and as Chair of the NARUC Committee on Telecommunications. Tremaine holds a B.A. from Michigan State University and an M.A. and J.D. from The Ohio State University.
Chris Villarreal
Chris Villarreal is a Senior Advisor to PowerLines. He previously worked for the California Public Utilities Commission and the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission and was an associate fellow at the R Street Institute. He is an electricity regulatory and policy expert with over 25 years experience working on issues before state and federal utility regulators, advising on topics including rate design, grid modernization, distributed energy resources, and customer privacy. Chris holds a B.A. from Baylor University.
PowerLines is a nonpartisan consumer education nonprofit organization that aims to modernize the utility regulatory system for American energy consumers to lower utility bills and grow the economy.