Jason McMillan has been with the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) for 11 years, working out of the Sacramento headquarters. He supervises a team of utility engineers in the Safety and Enforcement Division’s Gas Safety and Reliability Branch. His responsibilities include overseeing safety and compliance inspections of Natural Gas and Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) operators across California.
McMillan is also responsible for the Master-Meter Gas and Small LPG Inspection program, as well as administering the CPUC’s Mobile Home Park Utility Conversion program. This initiative replaces mobile home park-owned utility systems with direct public utility natural gas and electric service to provide safer, more reliable energy to residents.
Explaining his motivation for joining the CPUC, McMillan said, “I have always believed that the greatest calling we can feel is the service to others. I felt that working for California, specifically within a safety assurance position, was a way to use my time and talents to serve people and to ensure the safety of my family, friends, and neighbors.”
He highlighted improvements made under his leadership in inspection programs: “The Small Operator Inspection program has really been rewarding. Before the revised workplan was established, we consistently had a backlog of past-due inspections – about 30 percent of the systems had not been inspected on time. Since we established new workplans and requirements for our engineers, we have increased our annual inspections and decreased our backlog. Since 2022, the number of systems past due inspections has decreased to less than two percent.”
Discussing his role in advancing CPUC’s mission, McMillan stated, “Our work within the Safety and Enforcement Division really focuses on making sure that Californians have safe utility service. Our inspection findings and enforcement actions help confirm that natural gas operators are using ratepayer funds as designed; that they operate their systems in a way that mitigates risks; and that they keep their employees and the public safe.”
In addition to his professional duties, McMillan enjoys outdoor activities such as hiking, cycling, and kayaking around Sacramento. He shared an unexpected detail from his previous career: before joining CPUC he worked as a maintenance technician for banks where he picked locks and opened safes.
For those interested in horror films, McMillan recommends listening to “Random Number Generator Horror Podcast Number 9,” which he describes as both thoughtful and entertaining.
