Senior personnel
John H. Chamberlin
John Chamberlin is a Senior Advisor at PEG Research. His career, spanning three and a half decades, has focused on planning, strategy, and policy issues related to DSM program development, resource planning, and utility pricing. Most of his work has pertained to electric utilities, but John has also done important projects for natural gas and water utilities. John played a prominent early role in the establishment of DSM programs and integrated resource planning across North America, including pathbreaking work to develop methods to plan and evaluate DSM programs. He has long championed DSM incentives and revenue decoupling and recently helped two mid-Atlantic power distributors establish decoupling in their jurisdictions. Another recent focus of his work is developing methods to incorporate risk in the analysis of alternative resource options.
Dr. Chamberlin has also played a leadership role in the development and application of innovative electric pricing strategies. He authored the federal PURPA pricing guidelines in the early 1980s, wrote many of the EPRI/EEI Rate Design Study "grey books" including the development of marginal cost pricing methods, wrote innovative pricing guidebooks published by EPRI, EEI and APPA, developed and taught numerous pricing courses, and has developed rates for utilities throughout North America. Dynamic pricing is a specialty. He developed some of the earliest interruptible and curtailable rates in the US, and has since developed and evaluated numerous market based energy and demand rates, critical peak rates, TOU rate structures, and similar prices designed to influence load at times of system peak. He has recently managed several cost of service analyses and led the development of demand response rates for a Midwestern utility.
Dr. Chamberlin has co-authored several books, including Demand-side Management: Concepts and Methods and Demand-side Management Planning. John has also authored dozens of published articles and monographs and has been invited to present more than a hundred speeches on energy related topics at industry conferences. He has testified numerous times before state and Canadian provincial regulatory commissions.
Before joining PEG Research, Dr. Chamberlin held senior management positions at the Cadmus Group, Quantec, Xenergy, and PG&E Energy Services and was a cofounder Barakat and Chamberlin. Earlier, he was employed at the Electric Power Research Institute, ICF, and Westinghouse Hanford.
Dr. Chamberlin earned a BA in Economics at California State University (Chico) in 1972, and the MA(1975) and PhD(1976) in Economics at Washington State University. He has been a member of numerous industry organizations and was a founding board member of the Association of Energy Service Professionals.
| Contact Dr. Chamberlin by e-mail: jchamberlin@pacificeconomicsgroup.com |
| Curriculum Vitae |
| Chamberlin Summary of Testimony |
Charles J. Cicchetti
Charles J. Cicchetti is a member of Pacific Economics Group, a Senior Advisor to Pacific Economics Group Research, and a Professor of Economics at the University of Southern California. He previously held positions as the Jeffrey J. Miller Professor of Government, Business, and the Economy at Southern Cal, Managing Director of Arthur Andersen Economic Consulting, Co-Chairman of Putnam, Hayes & Bartlett, Inc., and Deputy Director of the Energy and Environmental Policy Center at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. He was co-founder of Madison Consulting Group, which merged with National Economic Research Associates, Inc. (NERA), where he served as Senior Vice President. Dr. Cicchetti chaired the Wisconsin Public Service Commission and directed the Wisconsin Energy Office. He did post-doctoral research at Resources for the Future, served as first economist of the Environmental Defense Fund and was a professor of economics and environmental studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He received a B.A. from Colorado College and a Ph.D. from Rutgers University, both in economics.
Dr. Cicchetti has testified before regulatory agencies in the U.S. and abroad on tariff design, the rate of return, and the organizational structure of the natural gas, electricity, water and telecommunications industries. He has prepared expert testimony for various federal proceedings on a variety of topics. His work in environmental litigation includes experience in natural resource damage assessment and cost allocation under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) and the Oil Pollution Act. He has worked in developing nations throughout the world and designed the World Bank's Build, Own, Operate, and Turnover (BOOT) public/private investment program for infrastructure development.
The author of numerous books and articles, his publications include: Going Green and Getting Regulation Right: A Primer for Energy Efficiency , Restructuring Electricity Markets: A World Perspective Post California and Enron, Restructuring Electricity Markets: A World Perspective, Alaskan Oil: Alternative Routes and Markets; Perspectives on Power, co-authored with Edward Berlin and William Gillen; The Marginal Cost and Pricing of Electricity: An Applied Approach, with William Gillen and Paul Smolensky; The Costs of Congestion: An Economic Analysis of Wilderness Recreation, with V. Kerry Smith; and Forecasting Recreation in the United States. He has edited Energy Systems Forecasting, Planning and Pricing, with W.K. Foell; and Studies in Electric Utility Regulation, with John Jurewitz.
| Contact Dr. Cicchetti by e-mail: cicchett@usc.edu |
| Curriculum Vitae and PDFs |
Jeffrey A. Dubin
Jeffrey Dubin is a member of Pacific Economics Group and a Senior Advisor to Pacific Economics Group Research. He is also an Adjunct Full Professor of Economics at UCLA's Anderson School of Business, and Visiting Professor of Economics at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He recently retired as Professor of Economics at the California Institute of Technology, where he taught for 25 years. Dr. Dubin earned his undergraduate degree in Economics with highest honors from the University of California, Berkeley, and received a Ph.D. in Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
His research focuses on microeconomic modeling with particular emphasis on discrete choice econometrics. Current research concerns include contingent valuation methods, discrete choice econometrics, effects of welfare and entitlement programs on unemployment, energy economics and tax compliance.
He is the author of a number of publications, including Consumer Durable Choice and the Demand for Electricity, "Experimental Estimates of the Effects of Wage Subsidies," with R. Douglas Rivers, "Selection Bias in Linear Regression, Logit and Probit Models," with R. Douglas Rivers, and "The Use and Misuse of Surveys in Economic Analysis: Natural Resource Damage Assessment Under CERCLA," with Charles J. Cicchetti and Louis Wide. Dr. Dubin is also the co-author of SST, a statistical software package.
| Contact Dr. Dubin by email: | jadubin@alum.mit.edu |
| Curriculum Vitae (.html) | |
Blaine Gilles
Blaine Gilles is a Senior Advisor at PEG Research. His career has spanned more than two decades in which he has been a business leader, government regulator, and economic researcher focused on the issues of network-based businesses. Issues that arise with the development of competition in regulated industries are a specialty. He is also an expert in formulating strategies to deal with challenges posed by developing and pricing capital-intensive services and effectively managing profitability amid challenging and rapidly changing regulatory and market conditions. Blaine has served as an expert witness in a variety of regulatory and legal proceedings.
Dr. Gilles played a significant role in the transformation of the U.S. telecommunications industry from regulated monopoly to competition. Between 1999 and 2006, he led the voice services business of WilTel Communications, previously a subsidiary of the Williams Companies, to achieve annual revenues of over $1.3 billion. He held a variety of positions in the regulatory department of Ameritech in metropolitan Chicago. He has also led product management, marketing and sales, and business and technical operations, at Level 3 Communications, NewCross Technologies, and WorldCom. Blaine earlier served as an economist for the Policy Analysis and Research Division of the Illinois Commerce Commission and was an Assistant Professor of Economics at Kalamazoo College.
Prior to joining PEG Research, Dr. Gilles operated a private consultancy where he supported a variety of network-based firms and private equity companies, as well as the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice. He has been a key advisor to clients on mergers and acquisitions, competitive strategy, and pricing. At PEG Research, Blaine will participate in the Company's energy utility consulting as well as opening a practice in the field of telecommunications.
Dr. Gilles received his PhD and MA in Economics from Michigan State University where he studied regulatory economics with Harry Trebing of Michigan State's Public Utilities Institute. He also earned a BS in Economics and a BA in International Relations from the University of Minnesota. A native of Amherst, Wisconsin, he currently resides in Hoffman Estates, Illinois with his wife and daughter.
Contact Dr. Gilles by email: bgilles@pacificeconomicsgroup.comLawrence R. Kaufmann
Lawrence R. Kaufmann is a member of Pacific Economics Group and a Senior Advisor to Pacific Economics Group Research. He develops and undertakes supporting empirical research on performance based regulation (PBR) and competitive market reforms for energy utilities. He has worked with many leading utilities in North America on these issues and has spearheaded our overseas practice. Dr. Kaufmann has been particularly active in Australia, where he has advised energy utilities in five of the six Australian states on a variety of topics. His specialties include PBR plan design, statistical benchmarking, estimating total factor productivity, and incentive regulation theory. He is also a specialist and expert witness on service quality issues. Dr. Kaufmann is an author of over a dozen publications. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Wisconsin. Before joining PEG, he was a Senior Economist at Christensen Associates. He has also worked as an international economist for a large commercial bank.
Contact Dr. Kaufmann by e-mail: lkaufmann@earthlink.net
Colin M. Long
Colin M. Long is a member of Pacific Economics Group and a Senior Advisor to Pacific Economics Group Research. He has more than twenty years litigation and consulting experience, specializing in energy and utility-related matters. He is an experienced federal and state court litigator at both the trial and appellate level. He has extensive experience working with regulated industries, particularly in cases involving mergers and acquisitions and matters before the FERC and state regulatory commissions.
Mr. Long received a BA in political science, cum laude, from the University of Southern California and a J.D. from Loyola University School of Law. He is admitted to practice in the State of California, the Ninth Circuit District Courts, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and the United States Supreme Court. He is a member of the American Bar Association and the Association of Business Trial Lawyers.
With Dr. Cicchetti, Mr. Long has co-authored several recent articles with respect to energy issues, including "ISOs and Transcos: What's At Stake," "Politics As Usual: A Roadmap to Backlash, Backtracking and Re-Regulation," and "Transmission Products and Pricing: Hidden Agendas."
Contact Mr. Long by e-mail: colin.long@navigantconsulting.com
Mark Newton Lowry
Mark Newton Lowry is the President of Pacific Economics Group Research. He has more than twenty five years of experience as an industry economist. His principal areas of expertise are alternative regulation (Altreg) and statistical benchmarking. Regarded as an international authority on modern regulation, he supervises empirical work on utility performance and industry price and productivity trends, designs Altreg plans, and gives expert witness testimony. His work has recently focussed on capital spending (capex) trackers, revenue decoupling, forward test years, formula rates, and other remedies for the problem of regulatory lag that many utilities face today. He has proferred relevant testified in proceedings leading to the approval of thirteen decoupling plans.
Dr. Lowry has for many years advised the Edison Electric Institute on Altreg issues and teaches the popular Altreg Workshop at EEI's Advanced Rates Course. He has also served as an advisor to the Canadian Electricity Association. He has testified many times on Altreg and benchmarking issues. His testimony has featured path-breaking applications of production economics in the regulatory arena. Other areas of expertise include natural gas storage, agricultural and mineral economics, and codes of competitive utility conduct.
Before joining PEG, Dr. Lowry was a Vice President at Christensen Associates. He provided almost all of Christensen Associates' testimony on energy utility Altreg and benchmarking during his nine years there. Dr. Lowry has also served as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mineral Economics at Pennsylvania State University and as a Visiting Professor at l'Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales in Montreal. His research and teaching featured the use of mathematical theory and econometrics in industry analysis. The role of storage in markets for energy and agricultural commodities was a research specialty.
Mark attended Princeton University and holds a BA in Ibero-American Studies and a Ph.D. in Applied Economics from the University of Wisconsin. He can assist clients in French and Spanish as well as his native English. He has chaired numerous conferences on Altreg and benchmarking. His resume includes an extensive list of professional publications.
Dave Hovde
Dave is a Vice President at Pacific Economics Group Research LLC. He has more than twenty years of experience in the study of energy utility cost and productivity issues. He also teaches courses at Carroll University and Madison Area Technical College. Before joining PEG, he worked as a Senior Economist at Christensen Associates. He holds a BA in Economics, International Relations, and Political Science, and an MS in Economics from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Contact Mr. Hovde by e-mail: hovde@earthlink.net
John Kalfayan
John is a Senior Advisor of PEG Research. Since 2002, John has provided econometric modeling support for PEG in the areas of Alternative Regulation and Benchmarking. An industry economist for more than fifteen years, John has developed mathematical models for a wide range of projects, creating evaluation tools for risk management in electricity and gas markets, and for pricing electricity to retail markets under volatile supply conditions and demand uncertainty. He has also been involved in the design of utility pricing mechanisms including Real Time Pricing since the early 1990s. Kalfayan has developed software that has been widely used in the evaluation of a range of market-based energy products, including interruptible services. John was previously in senior management at the World Council of Credit Unions, a Senior Economist at Christensen Associates, and a professor of graduate and undergraduate courses in economics and business. He has French and German language capabilities and degrees in economics from Carleton College and the University of Wisconsin. His publications include work in econometrics and development economics.
Contact Dr. Kalfayan by e-mail: jkalfayan@pacificeconomicsgroup.com
Travis Johnson
Travis is an Economist at Pacific Economics Group Research LLC. He is a PhD candidate at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business and heads up our incentive power research program. A Madison native, he holds a BA in mathematics with a minor in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Contact Mr. Johnson by e-mail: travisj@stanford.edu