Author of Report Criticizing SDG&E; Merger Leaves PUC

Terry L. Murray, who recently directed a Public Utilities Commission staff report that criticized San Diego Gas & Electric’s proposed merger with Southern California Edison, is leaving the state agency to join an Oakland-based consulting firm, PUC officials said Friday.

Morse, Richard, Weisenmiller & Associates, the firm that Murray will join, is under contract to the city of San Diego, which is opposing the merger.

At the PUC, Murray served as director of the Division of Ratepayer Advocates. The city of San Diego strongly supported the division’s recent report, which suggests that the merger would not prove beneficial to customers of either utility.

Officials at SGD&E; and Edison on Friday declined to comment on Murray’s departure. In a prepared release, PUC Executive Director Neal Shulman said Murray was making the move to be “closer to where she lives in order to handle an unexpected family health emergency.”