[D]arren Springer, Burlington Electric Department’s chief operating officer, will take the helm of the organization as its general manager.
Springer, who most notably served as former Gov. Peter Shumlin’s chief of staff from May 2015 to the end of Shumlin’s term in January 2017, will immediately step in as the organization’s acting general manager. The city council will need to confirm the appointment and will consider doing so at its Oct. 15 meeting.
Springer, a resident of Burlington’s New North End, has served as BED’s COO and manager of strategy and innovation since January 2017. In that role, he managed 35 employees and led the department’s efforts to offer rebates for electric vehicles and create a roadmap for the city to achieve a net zero energy rating.
During an introductory press conference Tuesday, Springer touted BED’s record of no rate increases for 10 years and efforts that have helped the city decrease its energy usage by 4 percent since 1989. He said he would be dedicated to helping BED meet Mayor Miro Weinberger’s goal of being a net zero energy city by reducing fossil fuel use.
“Our broad challenge is to make our programs affordable and accessible, to move as aggressively as we can toward the net zero goal, and do so in a way that is beneficial to the city and the community,” Springer said.
Weinberger made the hire and said that after a national search he decided Springer was the best choice to keep moving BED forward.
“We are in a sustained period of customer affordability, financial improvement, positive labor relations, innovation and progress toward some of the most ambitious climate goals in the entire American power industry,” Weinberger said.
BED’s last general manager, Neale Lunderville, left the position in May to become the interim head of the city’s Community and Economic Development Office.
Springer said he would also be committed to ensuring BED continues to provide residents with reliable power. Around half of the organization’s customers do not see an outage in a given year and those who do have shorter waiting times for restoration than customers at other utilities around the country, he said.
“We need to continue to invest in our distribution system, make sure that we have reliable power,” he said. “We don’t take that for granted, that’s work that goes on everyday to make sure we keep the power reliable and affordable.”
Before working for Shumlin, Springer served as a deputy commissioner for the Vermont Department of Public Service, chief counsel and in other roles for Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and worked on energy policy at the National Governors Association. He is a graduate of Florida Atlantic University and Vermont Law School.
