Her departure comes as New Jersey pushes for green power and conservatives claim costs will rise
By TOM JOHNSON, ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT WRITER, NJ SPOTLIGHT
Stefanie Brand, the longtime director of the New Jersey Division of Rate Counsel, is retiring Friday, ending a 14-year run as the state’s most prominent, and probably most effective, advocate fighting customers’ rising utility bills.
Her departure comes amid sweeping changes occurring in the utility sector and as the transition to clean energy threatens to impose huge new costs on ratepayers, who are largely being asked to pay to subsidize these efforts. It is here where Brand generated her most criticism, sometimes being dubbed “Dr. No’’ by opponents.
‘She’s been incredibly effective and a real champion for consumers.’
During her time as director, Brand led the opposition to awarding $300 million in subsidies to keep New Jersey’s three nuclear plants from closing; repeatedly sought to lower incentives to the state’s thriving solar sector; and largely succeeded — so far — in limiting the state’s ability to build out the infrastructure for charging electric vehicles.
“She’s been incredibly effective and a real champion for consumers,’’ said Evelyn Liebman, associate director for AARP in New Jersey and a longtime ally of Brand on those issues.
Doug O’Malley, director of Environment New Jersey, agreed. “Her advocacy for ratepayers on the nuclear subsidies was unpopular, but she stuck by her guns,’’ he said.
Brand makes few apologies for fighting some high-priority climate issues, denying accusations by some who called her a climate-change denier. “I have never said we don’t have to address climate issues. It doesn’t mean you have to make hard choices on how much it costs,’’ Brand said in an interview with NJ Spotlight News.
Before serving as rate counsel director, Brand was in the Division of Law in the Department of Law and Public Safety for 17 years, working on environmental issues, before eventually rising to an assistant attorney general.
Tom Gilbert, campaign director for the New Jersey Conservation Foundation, defended Brand. “She never questioned the value or importance to move to clean energy. She questioned whether the goals were being met in a cost-effective way,’’ he said.
