A bipartisan committee has recommended three finalists to Gov. Mike Pence to serve on the state’s powerful utility regulatory agency, which approves utility rates for millions of Indiana residents and businesses.

The finalists selected Friday for the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission are:

— Tim Jeffers, director of business development at CSO Architects and former chief of staff to then-Indiana House Speaker John Gregg.

— Sarah Freeman, senior staff attorney at the Indiana Legislative Services Agency and former Indiana deputy attorney general.

— Jeffrey L. Golc, former vice president at Harrison College, former spokesman for the Hoosier Lottery and former IURC commissioner.

Under law, Pence will select one of the three finalists to fill a vacancy created by the resignation of Commissioner Carolene Mays-Medley. She stepped down in April to accept an appointment as executive director of the White River State Park Development Commission. Her term expires Dec. 31, 2017.

The state is behind schedule in finding a replacement.

The five-member IURC hears hundreds of utility cases a year and regulates $14 billion worth of electric, natural gas, telecommunications, steam, water and sewer utilities. It determines utility rates and charges, environmental compliance plans, financing and bonding—issues that affect millions of ratepayers and dozens of utilities.

The four other members of the commission are Carol Stephan (chair), Jim Huston, Angela Weber and David Ziegner.

For more information about the current IURC members see: http://www.in.gov/iurc/2378.htm