In a recent interview with APPA, Victor Fuentes, General Manager and CEO of Washington State's Franklin PUD, details the launch of a successful student intern program at Franklin PUD, as well as other efforts at the PUD to proactively address workforce issues facing the utility sector.
This summer, Franklin PUD Commissioners finalized the appointment of Fuentes as the PUD's new General Manager and CEO. Prior to the appointment, Victor served as interim general manager and CEO since February 1st, 2025.
He's also served as Engineering Director and Engineering and Operations Senior Director at Franklin PUD.
Since joining Franklin PUD in 2021, Fuentes has been a vital member of the management team contributing to the organization's success, the PUD noted.
Recognizing the importance of developing future talent, he launched a successful student intern program.
In a recent episode of APPA’s Public Power Now podcast, Fuentes was asked to offer additional details on the intern program and discuss other efforts at Franklin PUD to proactively address workforce issues facing the sector, specifically recruitment and retention of workers as well as retirements of key personnel.
Franklin PUD had not had an intern for a decade “when I had arrived and I said, you know, in order to attract talent, we really should think about bringing up an internship program [and] that snowballed into last year. We reopened that internship program,” he said.
“We had two interns in our engineering department that I helped mentor along with some of my staff and really just had a positive outcome on that. One of them recently graduated and they went into the relay industry working at Schweitzer. So really glad that they stepped into this industry,” Fuentes said.
“The other came back this year for a second year internship. He graduates next summer and he's really excited about potentially joining the electric industry.”
Also in 2025 “we had one accounting intern. She was phenomenal, great work ethic and again, when we bring these interns in, we have great feedback.”
As far as proactively addressing workforce issues within the utility sector, “it is tough. I mean we find it hard to fill positions that are technical and that 5 to 10 year experience range,” Fuentes said. “We can certainly find new grads but once you get past that it's really tough.”
He added: “We've not had to use recruiters up till now but that's a potential avenue in the future.”
The PUD posts “where we can” and is looking at taking a different approach. “Maybe we try looking at hiring people that are really not within the industry but still have experience. So maybe that's people that work at cities, at the federal level. And so I think you leave no rock unturned when you start looking at that.”
In the interview, he was also asked to discuss the steps that the PUD is taking to meet Washington State's Clean Energy Transformation Act and how the PUD is engaging with customers to educate them about the Act as well as get their feedback as the plan is being developed.
“We are currently in development of that CETA plan," he said. "We’ve conducted a survey to gather information from our customers and input regarding our transition to clean energy. Our demographic is largely Hispanic and so we have a lot of Spanish speaking customers. So we've offered that survey both in English and Spanish,” he said.
“We're still gathering that data and then once we do have it, we'll go through and collect that information and hopefully include that into that clean energy implementation plan. And then we hope to present that to our Board of Commissioners later this fall.”
