2025 Shultz Energy Fellowships: California Public Utilities Commission, Office of Commissioner Matthew Baker
Regional-, state-, and city-level efforts are essential in our fight against climate change, especially in the field of energy. Stanford University is committed to helping by integrating its students into energy and climate ecosystems in the West through the Shultz Energy Fellowships program, an energy-related summer fellowship program for undergraduate and graduate students.
Named in honor of former Secretary of State George P. Shultz, one of the most widely admired American public servants of the past half-century, the program offers a suite of paid, energy-related public service fellowships for Stanford students in California, Colorado, Nevada, Utah, and Hawaii during the summer.
The fellowships run from Monday, June 23 to Friday, August 29, 2025.
Organization/Agency mission or role in state government
California has been a global leader in implementing laws to reduce the causes and impacts of climate change. It also has been a leader in supporting climate research which has forecasted increasing threats and impacts from wildfires in the coming decades.
The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) is one of the most influential regulatory agencies in the state. The CPUC regulates privately owned electric, natural gas, telecommunications, water, railroad, rail transit, and passenger transportation companies, in addition to authorizing video franchises. Our five Governor-appointed Commissioners, as well as our staff, are dedicated to ensuring that consumers have safe, reliable utility service at reasonable rates; protecting against fraud; and promoting the health of California's economy.
As a regulator of the investor-owned utilities (IOUs), the CPUC has oversight of how electricity providers build safe infrastructure, procure renewable resources and deliver affordable and reliable electric service with a commitment to environmental enhancement and a healthy California economy.
Assignment
The Office of Commissioner Baker at the California Public Utilities Commission is seeking support from a Shultz Energy Fellow to analyze ratepayer-funded programs that advance energy efficiency and electrification measures at the household level.
Commissioner Matthew Baker is the assigned commissioner on multiple energy general rate cases and is the CPUC’s commissioner liaison to the Low Income Oversight Board (an advisory group that provides feedback on CEC and CPUC programs/policies relating to low-income ratepayers and representatives). The Fellow will conduct research and provide analysis on these matters, as well as provide economic and policy analysis on related proceedings.
Their work may include researching issues (e.g., budgets, goals, timelines, and current status) and identifying opportunities associated with different California investor-owned utility ratepayer-funded distributed energy technology pilot, deployment and related programs. This includes general research into performance-based ratemaking and other concepts that may more strongly motivate utilities to integrate state and CPUC goals into their planning processes.
The fellow will join the Office’s team of six advisors that provide research and advisory support to the Commissioner. In this role, the fellow will also coordinate and have the opportunity to meet with other executive division and advisory division staff across the CPUC. They may also have an opportunity to attend CPUC voting meetings, interagency workshops, and external site visits on related issues.
The office has a telework policy to work remotely from home with approximately once a week in-person team meetings in the CPUC’s San Francisco headquarters.
Background
State agencies and utilities estimate electricity demand will double to triple over the next two decades. This will reverse a trend of low demand growth driven by the state’s long-standing energy efficiency policies. Electricity demand will grow to power new uses (e.g., data centers) and alternatives to current fossil energy consumption (e.g., electric cars).
California’s high electric rates strain household budgets and make electrification more challenging. The CPUC currently manages a large portfolio of incentive programs to support customers and clean energy adoption, with cumulative annual budgets of over $1 billion, which have largely focused on energy efficiency and rooftop solar. As the state moves into the next phase of its clean energy transition, these programs may play a stronger role in electrifying more homes and businesses, particularly in low-income and disadvantaged communities.
Potential Mentor
- Justin Ong, Chief of Staff to Commissioner Baker
2024 CPUC Fellows
- Shambhavi Rathore, MS Environmental Engineering, '25
- Learn more about Shambhavi's experience at the CPUC:
- Merrill Storch, MS Civil and Environmental Engineering, Atmosphere/Energy, '25
- Learn more about Merrill's experience at the CPUC:
- Preferred areas of study include Public Policy and Administration, Law, Government, Economics, Statistics, Environmental Science, Chemistry, Engineering.
- Interest in energy, economic regulation, and affordable utility service.
- Knowledge of state initiatives around electricity, natural gas, and low-income assistance programs/policies.
- Flexible, independent, and detail-oriented.
All Shultz fellows must be enrolled in the spring quarter before their fellowship.
All Shultz fellows must take a one-unit spring workshop course, 'Energy Policy in California and the West' taught by Professor Bruce Cain and Visiting Fellow Felicia Marcus that will provide an in-depth analysis of the role of California state agencies, the Western Interstate Energy Board, and the Western Electricity Coordinating Council in driving energy policy development, technology innovation, and market structures. Course number is CEE 263G / POLISCI 73 / PUBLPOL 73 / ENERGY 73. Schedule: Wednesdays from 1:30 pm - 2:50 pm.
Please note that this opportunity is open to graduate students only. Interested undergraduate students can apply via SIG.
