William S. Harwood
Bill Harwood has been actively involved in legal representation, policy initiative, and political change for over forty years. He works locally and nationally from his home state of Maine.
In 2000, after the Columbine High School shooting, he helped found Maine Citizens Against Handgun Violence (MCAHV) to lead efforts in Maine and served as its first President. Since then he has served on and chaired the Governing Boards of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and the American Bar Association Special Committee on Gun Violence. He has also served on the governing Board of States United to Prevent Gun Violence and the U.S. Department of Justice Safe Neighborhoods Project for Maine. He has authored articles on gun regulation and more recently, he has served as Board Chair of Maine Gun Safety Coalition (formerly Maine Citizens Against Handgun Violence) and taught a course on firearm regulation as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Maine School of Law.
As a partner at Verrill & Dana, Bill spent his career representing public utilities before state and federal regulatory agencies. Bill has represented electric, gas, water, and telecommunications companies in more than 50 major cases before the Maine Public Utilities Commission (PUC) and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), including rate cases, prudence investigations, management audits, merger approvals, requests for Certificates of Public Convenience and Necessity, and rulemaking proceedings. Bill counseled utilities on proactive strategies to both anticipate regulatory developments and efficiently manage the regulatory process.
Bill was actively involved in the restructuring of the Maine electric utility industry, including the representation of utilities in the sale of their generating assets, recovery of stranded costs, and providing standard offer (default) service. Bill has represented developers of new transmission lines in securing Certificates of Public Convenience and Necessity and wind developers in negotiating Interconnection Agreements and securing adequate transmission capacity for delivery of the output.
In September 2021, Bill left private practice and joined Governor Mills Energy Office as a Senior Policy Advisor where he advised the Mills Administration on energy policy, including development of offshore wind and community solar farms, financial assistance to low-income energy consumers and energy legislation. In January 2022, Governor Mills nominated Bill to be Maine Public Advocate to represent ratepayers before the Legislature and state and federal regulatory agencies. After unanimous confirmation by the Maine Senate, Bill leads a dedicated team of professional at the Office of Public Advocate, protecting and advancing the interests of Maine ratepayers.
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William S. Harwood 