Carl Wood is an internationally known clean energy expert and labor leader with deep roots in the Inland Empire. A husband, father and grandfather, he has served California as a utility regulator, consumer advocate, and a leading voice on senior citizen’s issues.

Carl’s Riverside pedigree stretches back to 1962, when his family moved to the Inland Empire from Baltimore, Maryland. He graduated from Riverside Polytechnic High School in 1964, and attended the University of California, Riverside, where he was elected student body president in 1967-68. Like many civic-minded members of his generation, Carl became active in the civil rights and anti-war movements.

He completed an apprenticeship as an industrial electrician in Gary, Indiana, and worked nearly 20 years in the steel, chemical and utility industries. In 1986, he was elected Business Agent (chief officer) of Utility Workers Union of America (UWUA) Local 246, representing 2000 power plant employees of Southern California Edison Co. In 1987, Carl was elected to the National Executive Board of the UWUA

In May 1999, Gov. Gray Davis appointed Wood to a six-year term on the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). As Commissioner, he is best known for his efforts to stabilize and re-regulate California’s electrical utility industry during and after the 2000-2001 Energy Crisis, and for his authorship of the Telecommunications Consumer Bill of Rights.

Wood has testified before committees of the U.S. House of Representatives and state legislatures of California, New Mexico, Michigan, Ohio and Connecticut, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the Federal Communications Commission. He has been an invited speaker before government, academic and labor bodies in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Sweden, Netherlands, Belgium, France, Romania and South Korea. In the United States, Wood has addressed numerous consumer, industry and labor groups as a keynote speaker or panelist.

Commissioner Wood left the CPUC at the expiration of his term in December 2004. He now serves as Director of Regulatory Affairs for the national UWUA. He has served on the California State Council and National Policy Council of AARP, and he now serves as President of the Board of Directors of The Utility Reform Network (TURN).”

Carl Wood has been married for 35 years to Anne Patrice Wood. They have two adult children and five grandchildren. The Woods reside in Cherry Valley in Riverside County, California.