NCCU SCHOOL OF LAW ALUMNI AT THE FOREFRONT OF AN ENERGY REVOLUTION

By Patrick Buffkin ’12

When you walk into a dark room and flip a light switch, you probably don’t think about where the electricity you use comes from.

Two NCCU School of Law alumnae, Lynn Jarvis ’93 and Anne Keyworth ’16, think about this every day as attorneys at the North Carolina Utilities Commission and Public Staff respectively. They practice law at the forefront of an energy revolution that will transition electricity generation from coal to cleaner-burning natural gas, carbon-free nuclear or renewable resources such as solar and wind.

Jarvis entered the energy and utilities field as the chief clerk of the commission, and later joined the commission’s legal division where she advises the commission on renewable energy matters. The seven-member commission is nominated by the Governor, and confirmed by the General Assembly, and is the court of record for utilities matters.

“A big part of our work is making sure that public utilities meet the policy mandates enacted by our General Assembly,” says Jarvis. As an example, she cites the annual commission proceedings to oversee compliance with the renewable energy portfolio standard law enacted in 2007. “The commission is responsible for tracking the sources of energy used by the utilities, and the money they spend to determine whether the utilities complied with statutory requirements, and whether the customers’ money was spent appropriately.”

The Public Staff, where Keyworth is a staff attorney, appears before the commission representing utility customers (or the “using and consuming public,” in statutory terms) in an auditing and advocacy capacity. Keyworth is one of the newer members of the legal division at the Public Staff, but has already contributed to significant work such as advocacy on the Carbon Plan, a multi-decade effort to have Duke Energy reduce carbon dioxide emissions from its power plants, and eventually achieve carbon neutrality.

Keyworth found energy and utilities engaging during her time clerking for N.C. Supreme Court Justice Sam Ervin, IV, a former utilities commissioner. The steep learning curve in the field can be intimidating due to the technical nature of the work, but how electricity is generated, transmitted, distributed and paid for raises hard and important societal, environmental, financial and technological questions that I am fascinated by,” Keyworth explains.

Practice before the commission often involves intervenors representing a wide array of interests — industrial, tech, residential, low-income, environmental, etc. — each of whom have a stake in the issues. The many voices demonstrate the magnitude of the issues and the consumers’ interest in testing a utility’s planning and practices,” Keyworth adds.

While many North Carolina residents are happily unaware of the effort required to generate and deliver electricity, NCCU School of Law alumni can rest easy knowing that two of our fellow legal eagles are on the case, promoting the public interest at the forefront of the energy revolution.