[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 49 (Thursday, March 27, 2014)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E458]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              IN HONOR OF MR. JOHN DI STASIO'S RETIREMENT

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. DORIS O. MATSUI

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 27, 2014

  Ms. MATSUI. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to offer a tribute to Mr. John 
Di Stasio. On April 11, 2014, Mr. Di Stasio will retire from a long and 
distinguished career with the Sacramento Municipal Utility District, 
where he has served for 32 years, the last six as General Manager and 
Chief Executive Officer. I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring 
this individual who has contributed so much to the Sacramento 
community.
  SMUD--which is the nation's sixth-largest public electric utility, 
providing affordable and reliable power to 610,000 customers in my 
district and California's capital region--has been a leader in the 
public power community and in energy efficiency and clean resource 
development nationwide.
  Mr. Di Stasio's commitment to the Sacramento community and to the 
environment, coupled with his business sense, people skills, and 
personal integrity, have added to SMUD's remarkable reputation during a 
transformative time in the energy industry. Hundreds of thousands of 
Californians' lives have greatly benefited from his leadership and 
vision.
  Under Mr. Di Stasio's leadership, SMUD has consistently earned the 
top customer satisfaction scores of any California utility, and is 
regularly ranked among the top three utilities in the nation, in terms 
of residential and business customer satisfaction. Mr. Di Stasio also 
recently received Electric Power & Light magazine's CEO of the Year 
honors for large utilities.
  Mr. Di Stasio, a native Californian, played a key role as SMUD became 
the first large utility in the state to have 20 percent of its power 
come from renewable resources such as wind, solar and biogas. And it is 
on track to increase its renewable portfolio to 33 percent by 2020, 
making it one of the greenest utilities in the country.
  In 2009, SMUD received a smart grid infrastructure grant from the 
U.S. Department of Energy, the largest amount awarded to any public 
utility in the nation. SMUD used the smart grid grant money to augment 
its $308 million SmartSacramento initiative that included a ground-
breaking time-of-use pricing pilot program, and construction of a 
state-of-the-art control room in SMUD's new East Campus--Operations 
Center. The East Campus--Operations Center received LEED Platinum 
status from the U.S. Green Building Council.
  In addition to his service in Sacramento, Mr. Di Stasio is active in 
national and international energy issues, serving as a delegate with 
the United States Energy Association, where he assisted in 
electrification operations in Bangladesh, Brazil, Botswana, India and 
Jordan. Mr. Di Stasio has also helped effectively communicate and 
advance important legislative policy issues by providing expert 
testimony to Congress in 2009 on protecting the electric grid from 
cyber attacks, as well as advocating on behalf of consumer-owned 
utilities on Capitol Hill and at the Federal Energy Regulatory 
Commission.
  My personal and professional respect and admiration for Mr. Di Stasio 
runs deep, and as his friend, colleague and a fellow Sacramento 
citizen, I wish him happiness and good health.
  I ask my colleagues to join me in thanking and recognizing John for 
his many years of service.

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