undersecretary with the U.S. Department of Energy

Louisiana Public Service Commissioner Eric Skrmetta has quietly taken a new job with the Trump administration, one that he says he’ll hold while completing his final term as a state regulator. 

Skrmetta confirmed in a brief phone interview Tuesday that he is now the principal deputy under secretary with the U.S. Department Energy, which he said is four ranks below agency Secretary Chris Wright.

Skrmetta said he took the job “a few months” ago, following his appointment by President Donald Trump. The position does not require U.S. Senate confirmation. 

A lawyer from Metairie, Skrmetta has been a steadfast Trump supporter and active leader in the Louisiana Republican Party, serving as one of its Electoral College members in 2020. He won election to the Louisiana Public Service Commission in 2009 and is now term-limited at the end of December. 

Louisiana has laws that prohibit “dual officeholding,” in which an elected or appointed official holds two government positions simultaneously, though they generally don’t apply when one of the positions is part-time. Public Service Commission members are part-time officials who meet once a month, though they are supported by a full-time staff. 

“It conforms to the law,” Skrmetta said. “I’m gonna fulfill my commitment to serve the state until the end of my term.”

Although his new job is full-time in Washington, D.C., Skrmetta said he won’t relocate to the nation’s capital and is instead commuting from Louisiana.

An election to fill Skrmetta’s soon-to-be vacant spot on the PSC will take place Nov. 3. Voters will get to choose between three candidates in the race: Republican state Rep. Stephanie Hilferty of New Orleans, Democrat and ratepayer advocate Connie Norris of Slidell, and independent Chris Justin, an engineer from New Orleans.