Marsha H. Smith

Marsha H. Smith is serving her fourth term on the commission. Her current term expires in January 2015. Smith, a Democrat, served as commission president from November 1991 to April 1995.

Commissioner Smith is chair of the Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC) Board of Directors and represents Idaho on the Western Interconnection Regional Advisory Body and the State-Provincial Steering Committee. Smith is a past president of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC), serves on the NARUC Board and is a member and past chair of NARUC’s Electricity Committee. She is also a member of the Steering Committee of the Northern Tier Transmission Group, chaired the Western Interstate Energy Board’s Committee for Regional Electric Power Cooperation from October 1999 to October 2005 and is a member of the National Council on Electricity Policy Steering Committee, the Harvard Electricity Policy Group, the Idaho State Bar and the Log Cabin Literary Center board.

Smith received a bachelor of science degree in biology/education from Idaho State University, a master of library science degree from Brigham Young University and her law degree from the University of Washington.

Before her appointment to the commission, Commissioner Smith served as deputy attorney general in the business regulation/consumer affairs division of the Office of the Idaho Attorney General and as deputy attorney general for the Idaho Public Utilities Commission. She was the commission's director of Policy and External Affairs and chair of the NARUC Staff Subcommittee on Telecommunications.