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The Sacramento Municipal Utility District appointed Lora Anguay, who has spent the past five years guiding the utility’s ambitious zero-carbon effort, to become the agency’s next chief executive officer.
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Anguay will take over leadership of the utility — which employs about 2,400 people and serves an area with a population of about 1.5 million — as the utility navigates a shifting energy market and pursues an aggressive zero-carbon goal.
Anguay serves as the chief zero carbon officer, a role she has held since 2021. She has overseen the retooling of SMUD’s largest natural gas plant, the Cosumnes Power Plant, which reduced emissions by 27%, according to the utility. Under her leadership, SMUD also added more than 1,430 megawatts of renewable and energy storage resources.
Anguay said in a statement that she was humbled by the appointment, and said the utility would maintain its focus on providing safe, reliable power at affordable rates.
“As a second-generation SMUD employee, SMUD and the Sacramento community have been a core part of my life, and leading this team is the privilege of a lifetime,” she said in a statement. “As we continue to work toward a zero-carbon energy future, my focus will be to ensure that we scale sustainably, drive regional economic development and provide safe, reliable power while maintaining our commitment to affordable rates.”
Anguay joined SMUD in 2004. Previously she was in management at Oracle Corporation, and served in the U.S. Coast Guard. She holds a bachelor of science in business administration from Sacramento State.
Board President Dave Tamayo said the utility conducted a national search, and found Anguay “uniquely qualified.”
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“It was clear throughout our deliberation that Lora is the right person to navigate SMUD through a pivotal time for the electric utility industry as customers seek clean energy sources and exceptional service, while expecting utilities to transition to a clean energy future without compromising on reliability or affordability,” Tamayo said in a statement.
Anguay succeeds Paul Lau, a 45-year veteran of the utility who in January announced his intention to retire.
Lau joined SMUD as a student intern in 1982, and rose through engineering and executive leadership roles before his appointment as CEO in 2020. He stepped into the role just after the board adopted a moonshot goal of eliminating 100% of greenhouse gas emissions from its electric generation by 2030, and worked on aggressive plans that received worldwide attention from companies and other utilities.
Under his leadership, SMUD expanded workforce training programs, and joined the state’s Energy Imbalance Market, a wholesale energy-trading market that allows SMUD to buy low-cost renewable energy in real time, and sell excess energy to generate additional revenue. It was the first publicly-owned utility to do so.
The utility also weathered controversies, like its canceled power purchase agreement in the Coyote Creek solar project, an effort opposed by environmental and tribal communities. And after a 2022 lawsuit alleged that the utility’s data sharing led law enforcement agencies to make false assumptions about customers’ activities, a Sacramento Superior Court judge ordered SMUD to stop providing such details to the agencies in most cases.
Lau’s final day with SMUD is Aug. 1. Anguay will take over the roles of CEO and general manager on Aug. 2.
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