Public Utilities Commissioner Kristie Fiegen participates in an election forum on Sept. 19, 2024, at Dakota Wesleyan University in Mitchell. Her opponents did not attend. (Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight)
Republican Public Utilities Commissioner Kristie Fiegen hopes South Dakota voters give her another six-year term on Nov. 5.
The state’s three elected commissioners oversee the regulation of private utility companies, which provide essential services including telecommunications, electricity and natural gas. The commissioners are assisted by a staff of analysts and lawyers.
The job of a commissioner is to ensuring private utilities provide reliable services at fair rates. They also approve major projects, such as new power plants or transmission lines.
Republican former Gov. Dennis Daugaard appointed Fiegen to fill a commission vacancy in 2011. She was then elected to her own term in November 2012 and reelected in 2018. She’s currently the chairperson of the commission.
Fiegen, who lives in Pierre and Sioux Falls, previously served as a state legislator, as president of Junior Achievement of South Dakota, as South Dakota area manager for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and as a sales representative for Monsanto.