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CONTACT: Kyle DeVine              December 20, 1996  CPUC 567
         213-897-4225

           P. GREGORY CONLON REELECTED CPUC PRESIDENT

    P. Gregory Conlon was unanimously reelected President of
the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) at the
Commission's decision-making meeting on December 9.  He will
chair the five-member Commission through calendar-year 1997.
    Conlon was appointed to the Commission for a six year term
by Governor Pete Wilson on February 11, 1993.  He has served as
Commission President since May 1, 1996.
    President Conlon stated his top priorities for the coming
year were continuing the Commission's effort to increase
competition in California's telecommunications and electric
industries.  The Commission has already allowed competition to
begin for local telephone service, ahead of the January 1,
1997, deadline set by the state legislature.
    California has been a national leader in opening up the
generation of electricity to competition.  California's plan to
restructure the electric industry, which the Commission began
developing in April 1994, is scheduled to begin January 1,
1998.  Assembly Bill (AB) 1890 was signed by Governor Wilson in
September and codifies into state law almost all of the
Commission's policies for restructuring the electric industry.
    "The changing structure of the industries we regulate will
also require that the Commission itself change," President
Conlon stated.  Accordingly, Conlon will continue the
implementation of Vision 2000, the Commission's process of
reinventing itself to better face the challenges of the future.
Vision 2000 has already resulted in a reorganization, along
industry lines, of the Commission's divisions, and developing a
formal business plan for 1997.  The business plan will guide
the Commission to be run more like a business.

                             more
    Conlon is a member of the California Transportation
Commission, President of the Western Conference of Public
Service Commissioners, Chair of the National Association of
Regulatory Utility Commissioners' (NARUC) Ad Hoc Consumer
Protection Committee, and a member of the NARUC Electricity
Committee and Executive Committee.
    Prior to coming to the Commission, Conlon spent more than
30 years with Arthur Andersen & Co. auditing and consulting in
the energy and telecommunications industries.


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