Marty Blake
Dr. Martin Blake is a Principal Associate of Premier Energy Solutions. Dr. Blake has assisted utility clients in developing and supporting rate requests, developing strategic plans, conducting individual customer profitability analyses, developing marketing programs and in developing menus of pricing options that help to provide utilities with the tools necessary for developing cost effective energy solutions for their customers. Dr. Blake has made numerous presentations on these topics to utility Boards of Directors and has testified before numerous state regulatory commissions regarding strategic marketing, rate and planning issues. He has also conducted numerous marketing and sales training courses for utility personnel and customer groups.
Dr. Blake worked for Louisville Gas and Electric Company (LG&E) where he was responsible for all utility marketing programs for electricity and natural gas, utility strategic planning, and all matters regarding state and federal regulation, including the development of rates and tariffs. In this capacity, he frequently testified in both state and federal regulatory proceedings. He also negotiated an agreement with customer representatives that defined a set of DSM and energy conservation programs, including related cost recovery mechanisms, and was elected Chairman of the DSM Collaborative that was established to provide oversight for these programs.
He was a member of the off-system sales team that formulated and implemented LG&E’s off-system sales strategy and met monthly to assess target markets and establish wholesale pricing guidelines. He has served on the Interregional Transmission Coordination Forum, the General Agreement on Parallel Paths, and the group developing the Midwest ISO. He is currently serving as a member of the MISO Transmission Owner’s Committee and is also serving as the Vice-Chairman of the MISO Transmission Owner’s Tariff Working Group. He was a member of a number of Edison Electric Institute committees including the Economics and Public Policy Executive Advisory Committee; Strategic Planning Executive Advisory Committee; Transmission Task Force; and Power Supply Policy Technical Task Force.
Dr. Blake served a four-year term as Commissioner and Chairman of the New Mexico Public Service Commission. In this capacity he made policy and adjudicatory decisions regarding rates, terms of service, financing, certificates of public convenience and necessity and complaints for electric, natural gas, water, and sewer utilities. He served as Chairman of the Western Conference of Public Service Commissioners Electric Committee and as Chairman of the Committee on Regional Electric Power Cooperation.
He has a Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics and a M.A. in Economics from the University of Missouri – Columbia. He was a Professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics at New Mexico State University and is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Louisville teaching mathematical economics and econometrics. For the last eleven years, he has been an instructor teaching ratemaking for electric utilities at the NARUC Annual Regulatory Studies Program at Michigan State University.