SMUD Chief Executive Officer & General Manager Paul Lau is retiring after almost 45 years at SMUD, the California public power utility reported on Jan. 9.
Lau has spent his entire career at SMUD, working his way up through progressive leadership roles, after starting as a student intern. He announced his intention to retire this summer.
During Lau’s tenure, SMUD’s rates have consistently been among the lowest in California, and, on average, more than 50% lower than those of its neighboring investor-owned utility. This keeps more than $1.9 billion in SMUD customers’ pockets each year. On his watch, SMUD boosted grid reliability and resiliency through strategic investments, while topping the list of California utilities for customer satisfaction, SMUD noted.
"Lau’s work as CEO leaves a lasting impact on the Sacramento Region. Partnerships with business, government and academic leaders delivered billions of dollars in economic impact through investment, grants and business attraction, spurring the creation of thousands of jobs," the utility said.
Lau led SMUD to become the first publicly owned utility to join California’s Energy Imbalance Market. This gives SMUD early access to the changing regional energy market and has saved the utility and its customers more than $350 million.
Under his leadership, SMUD brought in more than $40 million in grant funding in 2025 alone. These investments and savings support SMUD’s clean energy projects and grid infrastructure, helping keep the utility’s rates among the lowest in California.
As CEO, Lau spearheaded SMUD’s Zero Carbon Plan, "the most ambitious carbon reduction plan of any large utility in the country, with a goal of zero carbon emissions in SMUD’s power supply by 2030. SMUD has made significant progress toward this goal, with 1,430 megawatts (MW) of zero-carbon energy secured since 2021, compared to the 1,000 MW SMUD brought online from 2000 to 2020," SMUD said.
The SMUD Board of Directors appointed Lau as CEO in October 2020, after a national search.
He previously served as chief grid strategy and operations officer and has been a member of SMUD’s executive leadership team since 2008. Lau joined SMUD in 1982 as an electrical engineering student while completing his Bachelor of Science in Engineering at California State University, Sacramento and joined SMUD permanently as an assistant electrical engineer after he graduated in 1984.
“Paul is regarded nationally and internationally as a visionary utility executive with deep expertise in emerging energy technologies,” said SMUD Board President Dave Tamayo. “We’re exceptionally fortunate to have had Paul at the helm of SMUD for the last five-plus years. His impact spans far beyond the walls of SMUD. Paul’s made the Sacramento region a better place to live and work and his groundbreaking vision has changed the trajectory of people lives through workforce and economic development, and leaving no community behind in our transition to a clean energy future.”
“His leadership has advanced not just SMUD, which benefits the entire Sacramento region, his groundbreaking work is inspiring local organizations, government agencies and utilities nationwide to develop and accelerate their own carbon reduction goals and plans to the benefit of the communities they serve.”
“Filling Paul’s shoes will be a huge undertaking, and the Board of Directors will engage in a comprehensive, thoughtful search to select SMUD’s next CEO,” Tamayo added.
“It’s been the honor of my lifetime to lead SMUD and to serve our community for more than four decades,” Lau said. “SMUD’s purpose is to improve the quality of life for our customers and community, and SMUD is positioned to continue delivering on that for the 1.5 million people we serve, through strong financial management, low rates, reliable service, visionary clean energy goals, innovative customer programs, community investment, a strong Board of Directors, and dedicated, smart and passionate employees. SMUD is well placed to continue to lead the utility industry and our region for decades to come.”
Lau has received dozens of local, regional and national awards for his leadership and decades-long industry and community contributions.
He is the Immediate Past Board Chair of the Smart Electric Power Alliance, a Commissioner of the Balancing Authority of Northern California and serves on the boards of the Large Public Power Council, American Public Power Association, California Municipal Utilities Association, Business Council for Sustainable Energy and Electric Power Research Institute. He also serves on the boards of several Sacramento-area community organizations, including the Greater Sacramento Economic Council and Valley Vision. He serves as Director-at-Large and is Past Chair of the Sacramento Asian Pacific Chamber of Commerce.
Lau is a registered professional electrical engineer in the state of California. He holds an honorary doctorate of Humane Letters and a bachelor’s degree in electrical power engineering from California State University, Sacramento.
