NRECA lauded Senate action to confirm the last two nominees to the five-member Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, giving the agency its first full panel of regulators in nearly two years.

“We commend the Senate for restoring the full complement of FERC commissioners,” said NRECA CEO Jim Matheson. “The commission can function at its best when it is operating with a full slate of commissioners.

“The combined experience of Kevin McIntyre and Richard Glick, including their experience in the energy sector, is reassuring given the critical issues facing FERC in the coming years. We look forward to working with the commission as we meet our member-consumers’ needs and provide opportunities to empower economic growth.”

McIntyre, co-leader of the global energy practice at the law firm Jones Day, is expected to succeed Neil Chatterjee as chairman when he is sworn in. He will serve a term ending June 2018 and then a full term that ends June 2023.

Glick will serve out the remainder of a term ending June 2022. He was general counsel for the Democrats on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and a former policy adviser at the Department of Energy.

The formal swearing-in ceremony for McIntyre and Glick has not yet been scheduled.

Chatterjee was nominated to the commission as interim chairman in August. He'd previously served as senior energy adviser to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, and was also a member of NRECA’s government relations team. Chatterjee is serving the remainder of a term that ends in June 2021.

Robert F. Powelson, a former chairman of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission and president of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, was also confirmed by the Senate in August. Powelson's term ends in June 2020.

Cheryl A. LaFleur, first sworn into serve the commission in 2010, is a past chair. Her current term ends in June 2019.