Attorney General-designate Jennifer Davenport plans to divest her stock in PSEG before taking office, a spokesperson for Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill’s transition team told the New Jersey Globe.
Davenport will leave her post as deputy general counsel at PSEG on January 3 and will walk away from any restricted stock in the state’s largest utility company that is not yet vested.
The value of Davenport’s holdings in PSEG is not immediately apparent. She went to work there in 2022 after serving as First Assistant Attorney General and, before that, as an Assistant U.S. Attorney.
Sherrill, who announced her pick of Davenport earlier today, has pledged to issue an executive order on her first day in office freezing electricity rates for New Jerseyans. Davenport will need to recuse herself from matters involving PSEG, though Sherrill suggested that she won’t recuse herself from all energy issues.
“She’ll hold entities accountable, like PJM, our regional grid operator, to ensure they’re putting ratepayers first,” said Sherrill.
The governor-elect said recusals will be handled on a case-by-case basis.
“If there’s any conflict of interest or any appearance of a conflict of interest, then I would recuse,” said Davenport. “That’s what attorneys do. That’s what prosecutors do. That’s what I’ve always done in my career.”
In her comments, Davenport did not mention utility costs, but made a general pledge to go after companies “who price gouge our consumers.”
But Davenport said that the attorney general’s office will support Sherril’s agenda.
“And any issue where I’m recused, whether it’s with a former employer because there’s a direct conflict or with anything else, we will make sure that there’s a team that’s fully capable and that folks in the office of the attorney general will make sure to advance the governor’s mission,” she said.
PSEG provides electric service to roughly two-thirds of the state’s population, and its natural gas service is the largest in the state. Sherrill also committed to expanding the state’s nuclear capacity, a move that might include the PSEG-owned Salem and Hope Creek nuclear power plants in Lower Alloways Creek.
