Paul Lau, SMUD CEO and General Manager. (SMUD.org)
SMUD CEO Announces ‘Retirement’ Following Globe Exposé on $1M Salary
The SMUD Board President told the Globe the CEO/GM’s $1M salary ‘is based on his performance’
By Katy Grimes, January 9, 2026 2:11 pm
The CEO and General Manager of SMUD announced he is resigning/retiring. He says his family has sacrificed a lot, and they “love to travel.”
This week the Globe reported Sacramento Municipal Utility District CEO and General Manager Paul Lau is paid $981,991 annually. Lau is paid nearly $1 million annually to manage 2,400 employees, and revenue of $2 billion.
Lau says he spent time over the holidays reflecting… how his family has sacrificed?
Since our last article, we discovered that the SMUD Board in their infinite wisdom, gave Lau another raise and bonus December 11, increasing his total compensation to $1.4 million.
And since our article and my interview on KFBK with John McGinnis about this, many current and former SMUD employees have contacted me with more information.
The SMUD Board President told the Globe in a response to our inquiry the CEO/GM’s $1M salary “is based on his performance. SMUD has the second or third lowest rates among all utilities in the state, and over 50% lower than PGE.”
Given that California’s electricity providers have a history of hiking rates not just annually, but some like SMUD now hike rates three times a year, SMUD hovers 5% behind PG&E and claims it is “performance based.” Right. California’s electricity rates are some of the highest in the country.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration reports that the U.S. average retail price per kilowatthour is 12.68 cents (Release Date: November 10, 2025). In California the retail price per kilowatt hour is 27.04 cents.
And the SMUD CEO is paid over $1 million annually… it’s not clear how he is “focusing on the benefit to our customers and the community” when California is paying some of the highest electricity rates in the country.
We note that SMUD CEO Paul Lau, Board members and Directors travel well – to UN Climate Change conferences in far-away places. This year it was Brazil at the COP30 UN Climate Change Conference – Belém, November 2025, according to employees.
Well, they do have a travel budget:
Employees told the Globe CEO and Board travels include Portugal and Dubai. We will be confirming this, and more, because with the current push for investigations into government fraud and abuse, ratepayers are not feeling so charitable.
Meanwhile, here is the listing of the SMUD Board of Directors who apparently think Lau is worth $1.4million salary and benefits, because they approved it:
- Brandon Rose, Ward 1
- Nancy Bui-Thompson, Ward 2
- Gregg Fishman, Ward 3
- Rosanna Herber, Ward 4
- Rob Kerth, Ward 5, Board Vice President
- Dave Tamayo, Ward 6, Board President
- Heidi Sanborn, Ward 7
Brandon Rose,
Nancy Bui-Thompson,
Gregg Fishman,
Rosanna Herber,
Rob Kerth, Board Vice President
Dave Tamayo, Board President
Heidi Sanborn. (Photo: SMUD.org)
A California native and Navy mom, Katy lives in Sacramento, CA.
- SMUD CEO Announces ‘Retirement’ Following Globe Exposé on $1M Salary - January 9, 2026
- Treasury Secretary Bessent Says Great Economic Growth Ahead in 2026 - January 9, 2026
- California Governor Gavin Newsom’s Fairytale State of the State - January 8, 2026
RELATED ARTICLES
-
January 6, 2026 -
April 16, 2021 -
May 14, 2021
Loot and Scoot?
YESSS! Nice work Katy Grimes and the California Globe!
The insinuation that your last article on this is forcing his retirement is laughable. But you keep going with your little hobby.
Is that you Mr. Lau? Or maybe a toady?
Bravo to Katy Grimes and California Globe for exposing SMUD CEO Paul Lau’s outrageously extravagant pay package and all the wasteful travel spending that has been incurred by him and SMUD’s Board of Directors. Katy Grimes did the work that the worthless Sacramento Bee or the rest of the local Democrat controlled media would never do?
As Katy pointed out, SMUD ratepayers pay some of the highest electricity rates in the country while the U.S. average retail price per kilowatt-hour is 12.68 cents. SMUD’s residential rate is projected to increase by 5.6% in 2026 and it has a time-of-day rate structure where the price during peak hours (5 p.m. to 8 p.m.) increases to approximately 32 cents per kilowatt-hour during summer months.
No doubt most of SMUD’s beleaguered ratepayers do not want to say their already high rates increased to pay for extravagant executive pay packages or for CEO and Board travels out of the country to exotic places like Brazil, Portugal and Dubai for globalist climate scam conferences?
Instead of SMUD Board of Directors determining compensation and travel policies, maybe ratepayers should have more of a voice in determining those policies and the opportunity to vote on them?
It’s helpful that Katy Grimes listed SMUD’s Board of Directors along with links to their bios which will help ratepayers to who to blame for this extravagant CEO pay fiasco. After looking at the backgrounds of the Board of Directors, it makes one wonder if they were all legitimately elected to SMUD’s Board or were maybe some of them installed with help with Democrat voter fraud?
Take for example SUMD Director Rosanna Herber who represents Ward 4, which includes Curtis Park, Land Park, Greenhaven, Pocket, Walnut Grove and parts of Elk Grove. She previously served as Chief of Staff to Sacramento Democrat Councilwoman Kimberly Mueller. A native of Fort Wayne, Indiana, Rosanna graduated from Indiana University (Bloomington) with degrees in psychology and Spanish. She also earned an MBA from Saint Mary’s College in Moraga. She moved to California in 1986, and she and her wife of over 30 years live in Curtis Park with their darling dogs, Kep and Chelsea. After being elected to the SMUD Board in 2018, Rosanna was part of the Climate Change Ad Hoc Committee that wrote the Climate Emergency Declaration – eventually leading to the adoption of SMUD’s 2030 Zero Carbon Plan.
Yikes, there are lots of red flags with her?
Then there is Rob Kerth who was first elected to the SMUD Board of Directors in November 2008 and represents Ward 5, which includes midtown, downtown, North Sacramento, Natomas, Rio Linda and Elverta. He’s a former two-term Democrat city councilman who got his start in public service as a neighborhood activist.
Hmmm?
Next up is Heidi Sanborn who was first elected to the SMUD Board in 2019 and represents Ward 7, which includes Arden Arcade, Carmichael, Antelope, Foothill Farms and North Highlands. She is the Founder of the National Stewardship Action Council and has served as its Executive Director since 2015. She is also the founding Director of the California Product Stewardship Council where she served for 12 years prior. These nonprofits are supposedly dedicated to reducing waste, increasing recycling and advocating for an equitable, circular economy.
Heidi was appointed by then Democrat State Treasurer Fiona Ma (who was involved in several scandals and controversies) to the Green Bond Market Development Committee in 2019 and tasked with efficiently raising billions of dollars in new and affordable capital to build climate-friendly infrastructure. She also was appointed by CalEPA to serve on the Statewide Commission on Recycling Markets and Curbside Recycling in June of 2020 and was elected Chair. Heidi has a personal interest in going green. Heidi and her husband have remodeled their house to be all electric including induction stove, solar panels and a heat-pump water heater and HVAC units. She is proud to be a SMUD Greenergy® customer.
Isn’t she special?
Brandon Rose has served on the SMUD Board of Directors since 2017 and represents Ward 1, which includes the communities of Fair Oaks, Citrus Heights, Orangevale, and northern Folsom. Rose holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Policy Analysis and Planning with a specialization in City & Regional Planning and Public Lands Management from U.C. Davis. He chairs the Energy Resources and Customer Service Committee, where he focuses on lowering costs, improving customer service, and implementing SMUD’s nation-leading 2030 zero-carbon goal. In his current role with the California Air Resources Board, he focuses on zero-emission transportation technologies such as battery-electric and hydrogen commercial vehicles, including regulations, fueling infrastructure, financial incentives, and market development strategies. Previously, he helped develop charging infrastructure standards for the California green building code, led a technical assessment of transportation fuels, and developed and implemented rules to clean-up toxic diesel emissions.
Ugh?
Gregg Fishman was first elected to the SMUD Board of Directors in 2014 and represents Ward 3 which includes East Sacramento, much of the Arden-Arcade area, and the Campus Commons, College Glen, and Rosemont neighborhoods, as well as parts of Carmichael, Florin, Fruitridge and Vintage Park. Gregg is a graduate of California State University, Sacramento with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. Gregg proudly claims that he has been a clean energy advocate for much of his career. As a former SMUD employee he promoted wind and solar energy when they were in their infancy. At the California Independent System Operator, he led public engagement efforts supporting new wind energy farms in California. As President of the SMUD Board in 2018, he led the utility in passing its Integrated Resource Plan, hailed by the California Energy Commission as “… an ambitious road map for lowering greenhouse gas emissions in the Sacramento region.”
Good grief?
SMUDs’ Board of Directors are full of woke leftists?
It’s interesting to see in the photos above that SMUD CEO Paul Lau is wearing a blue shirt and a blue tie. Similarly all of the Board of Directors are wearing majority blue clothing items? Maybe it’s a signal to their Democrat party roots?
100% on the “Blue Team”/ ActBlue virtue-signal uniform, TJ
They just can’t help themselves, can they?
What a bunch of woke f*cktards!!!
As a SMUD customer and lifelong Sacramentan, I had no idea that the CEO of our local electric company was paid so much or that he and SMUD’s Board were taking such lavish trips courtesy of us ratepayers. Now we know why are electric rates are so high. SMUD’s Board it too blame and they all need to be replaced. I haven’t paid much attention to who was running before now. I’ll make sure to vote against Rosanna Herber who represents Ward 4 if she tries to run again. She needs to retire for good and spend more time with her wifey and dogs.
What a coincidence. Investigate him. Why are taxpayers paying a public employee based on job performance? Sounds rather corrupt. Performance pay is usually done for CEOs in the private sector, the private sector democrats despise and try to destroy.