(Updates throughout with background, industry comment.)
By Ian Talley Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- The chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Joseph Kelliher, said Wednesday he is stepping down from his post effective Jan. 20.
As a Republican appointee, Kelliher was expected to resign, as President-elect Barack Obama is likely to appoint his own Democratic designee.
"Although my term as commissioner does not end until 2012, I will also immediately begin to recuse myself from FERC business, as I explore other career opportunities," Kelliher said in a statement from FERC.
Kelliher had been named FERC chairman by President George W. Bush in July 2005 after serving as a commissioner since late 2003. He took on the role shortly before the Energy Policy Act of 2005 was enacted. The act gave FERC authority over protecting the reliability of the interstate electricity grid as well as enforcing rules governing manipulation of power and natural-gas markets.
FERC is testing those powers in a case of natural gas manipulation, challenging the Commodity Futures Trading Commission over territorial rights to police the markets.
Obama is expected to name a Democrat to the post, filling three of the five commission seats with officials from his own party. Suedeen Kelly and Jon Wellinghoff are the two Democrats already on the commission. Rose McKinney-James, Obama's transition team leader for FERC, and Iowa regulator John Norris have also been mentioned as possible appointees to the post.
Kelliher has been criticized by some for being too close to the industry he regulated after he was discovered to have been a key leader in Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force.
But many in the utility industry applauded Kelliher's work.
"Chairman Kelliher's focus on strengthening competitive wholesale electricity markets and empowering customers has laid a strong foundation for the development of innovative energy solutions, such as demand response and the growth of renewable energy sources," the Compete Coalition, an industry advocacy group, said in a statement.
Former Commissioner Bill Massey, now a partner at Covington & Burlington LLP, said, "Kelliher was always very steady, very focused on making sure that the commission stayed within the bounds of the law and exercised its authorities responsibly but vigorously, particularly in anti-manipulation powers."
The chairman laid the foundation for an expansion in renewable energy, artificially intelligent transmission grids and energy efficiency through new incentive structures.
As Obama plans to double renewable energy generation and Congress prepares to build a new national electricity transmission system, the new FERC chairman is expected to oversee additional siting powers and play a key role in developing the renewables industry across the country.
Massey said Obama's likely to temporarily appoint Kelly or Wellinghoff to chair the commission on Jan. 20, at least until a permanent appointment is made.
-Ian Talley and Mark Long, Dow Jones Newswires; (202) 862-9285; ian.talley@dowjones.com
(Siobhan Hughes in Washington contributed to this report)
Click here to go to Dow Jones NewsPlus, a web front page of today's most important business and market news, analysis and commentary: http://www.djnewsplus.com/access/al?rnd=QlCTPfzEyaX%2FJB0dJGvAug%3D%3D. You can use this link on the day this article is published and the following day.

Publié le 07 janvier 2009 Copyright © 2009 Dowjones