Colette D. Honorable

Commissioner
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)
Biography: 

Commissioner Colette D. Honorable Commissioner Colette D. Honorable was nominated to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission by President Barack Obama in August 2014, and unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate in December 2014 for a term that expires in June 2017. An attorney, Commissioner Honorable came to FERC from the Arkansas Public Service Commission, where she served since October 2007, and led as Chairman from January 2011-January 2015.

As Chairman of the PSC, Honorable oversaw an agency with jurisdiction over 450 utilities and approximate annual revenues of $5 billion. She was charged with ensuring safe, reliable and affordable retail electric service. During her tenure, Arkansas led the South and Southeast in comprehensive energy efficiency programs, and electric rates were consistently among the lowest in the nation.

Honorable is past president of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, where she focused on pipeline safety, reliability, resilience, fuel diversity, and workforce development during her one-year term. She has testified before Congress on multiple occasions on a range of energy issues.

Prior to joining the Arkansas PSC, Honorable served as chief of staff to then Arkansas Attorney General Mike Beebe and as a member of the governor’s cabinet as Executive Director of the Arkansas Workforce Investment Board. Her previous employment includes service as a consumer protection and civil litigation attorney, and as a senior assistant attorney general in Medicaid fraud before serving as an adjunct professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock School of Law.

Honorable is an Ambassador for the Clean Energy Education and Empowerment Initiative, an effort co-led by the U.S. Department of Energy and the MIT Energy Initiative, formed under the auspices of the International Clean Energy Ministerial.

A native of Arkansas, Honorable is a graduate of the University of Memphis and received a Juris Doctor from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock School of Law.