One of two remaining minority Republican appointees and a former two-time president of California’s regulatory commission, Richard Bilas announced Wednesday he is resigning from the California Public Utilities Commission effective March 8. In a letter to Gov. Gray Davis, Bilas, a Ph.D. free-market economist and former university professor, curtly referred to being “most frustrated by the policy changes at the Commission.”

Bilas, 67, indicated he will not elaborate on his frustration until after he leaves the five-member regulatory panel, which has been split 3-2 on many key votes along strictly partisan political lines. Bilas’s treatment for cancer a year ago and his wife’s health were cited as reasons why he feels he cannot continue to “adequately serve the CPUC.”

The date for Bilas’s departure is a key one because at its March 6 meeting, the CPUC is scheduled to take up the thorny issue of whether to apply a Sept. 20 suspension of electric direct access contracts, or retail customer choice, retroactively back to July 1 as supported by CPUC President Loretta Lynch. Bilas, his fellow Republican Henry Duque and a third Commissioner (Democratic) member Geoffrey Brown make up a loose majority supporting leaving the suspension date at Sept. 20, which could mean contracts representing more than 10% of the three investor-owned utilities’ total sendout would be left in place.

Bilas’s six-year term on the CPUC was set to expire Jan. 1 next year, as is Duque’s. Davis promised to appoint a replacement in the near future, noting that a search for candidates would begin immediately.

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