Co-op Currents invites new WEC Directors to talk about the values and experience they bring to the role, how they’ll balance vision and fiscal responsibility, and what drives them to serve fellow members. Profiles do not necessarily represent the values and policy decisions set by WEC’s Board as a whole, but rather the individual perspectives of Board members. In 2026, Paul Zabriskie was elected to his first term.
Paul Zabriskie of Middlesex works through things. He spoke to Co-op Currents from downeast Maine, taking a break from rebuilding a set of stairs while seabirds screamed behind him. On the drive east he saw three cars pulled over because they’d run out of gas. “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen people run out of gas, but folks are trying to stretch their budgets as far as they can, and another $10 in the gas tank is dinner,” he observed.
Zabriskie recently retired from Capstone, the Barre-based community action agency, where he was director of weatherization and climate impact. He spent a lot of time in state and national policymaking circles. “I can rap about the challenge of the energy bill vs. the food bill,” he said. That’s a simpler conversation when it comes to rising gas prices, but a trickier one when it comes to net metered solar power. There’s tension in conversations around net metering, Zabriskie said. Sensitive to jargon and other triggers that cause people to stop listening to each other, he thinks he can help find common ground for dialogue and evolving policy.
Evolution is necessary because the world is turning away from fossil fuels, infrastructure is changing, and the future requires investment. Not everyone is in a position to make personal investments in panels and batteries. How does a cooperative utility invest in the future in a way that’s fair for its members, and within overlapping regulatory, political, and legal contexts? Zabriskie would like to see decision-makers make investments “with an understanding we need to be really cognizant of the pain that policies can inflict if we’re not sensitive to people’s reality.” Regarding current net metering policy, that reality is “we basically have a cost-shift going on that’s hurting people, and one of the things we saw in community action is that it hits kids and elders first.”
In his weatherization role, Zabriskie enjoyed the challenge of working on farmhouses. There’s the common metaphor of the Vermont farmhouse—with generations of additions to the original frame—to describe something no longer quite coherent. For Zabriskie this wasn’t a metaphor, but real drafty houses with hands-on challenges, which made fixing them to be comfortable and energy efficient into a puzzle.
He understands how energy policy impacts people’s lives, and brings that to tackling the puzzle of investing in the future. Take the next big development: behind-the-meter battery storage. Batteries have the collective potential to lower WEC’s peak power costs, with a member experience like the relaunched PowerShift program for EVs. How does WEC incentivize those with the capital to purchase batteries and harness those investments in a way that fairly benefits both the owner and the full membership?
Zabriskie acknowledges that the Board’s first job is fiduciary responsibility, but shouldn’t avoid taking risks because of that. Not evolving is a risk itself; striving to be better is the goal. “To the extent that you can achieve change incrementally and not strand investment as you create something new, you can avoid volatility. Not biting off the whole thing at once. That’s something I really lean into,” he said.
Achieving change responsibly requires good communication. “I would like members to know that we all learn from stories. Board members need to hear the stories of how Washington Electric impacts the lives of our members,” he said. “I’m eager to hear and engage with people around what they need from the Co-op, and what they want from the Co-op—which aren’t always in alignment,” he said. “I’m eager to learn.”