Nick Chaset
Nick Chaset is a leading figure in contemporary clean-energy governance whose career spans public-sector regulation, energy-market design, and executive leadership within community-based utility structures. His professional trajectory is marked by a sustained commitment to democratizing access to clean energy, strengthening local agency in energy procurement, and designing operational frameworks that align decarbonization imperatives with social equity and economic resilience.
Educated in International Relations at Tufts University and later earning an MBA from Georgetown University, Chaset brings a dual orientation to his work: a systems-level understanding of global political-economic structures, and a pragmatic managerial approach to institutional transformation. These foundations informed his early policy roles within the State of California, where he served first in Governor Jerry Brown’s office as a Special Advisor on distributed energy resources, and later as Chief of Staff to the President of the California Public Utilities Commission. In these positions he engaged in the critical redesign of regulatory frameworks governing distributed solar, net energy metering, and the integration of new energy technologies into legacy utility systems.
Chaset is best known as the founding Chief Executive Officer of Ava Community Energy, one of the most influential community-choice energy agencies in the United States. Under his leadership, Ava evolved from a concept to a major regional energy provider, offering millions of residents access to cleaner power portfolios while reinvesting revenue in community-level resilience initiatives. Through programs spanning local battery installations, solar-plus-storage, electric-vehicle infrastructure, and climate-equity grants, he articulated a governing philosophy in which clean energy is understood simultaneously as infrastructure, public good, and ethical mandate. His work positioned Ava as a national model for local jurisdictional empowerment in the energy sector.
Beyond operational leadership, Chaset contributes to the governance architecture of the broader energy-transition landscape through his roles in industry associations and collaboratives, including the California Community Choice Association and partnerships with regional and national clean-energy nonprofits. His subsequent role as Executive Vice President for North America at Octopus Energy extends his influence from regional innovation to global scaling, linking community-based models with international capital and technology ecosystems.
Chaset functions as a public intellectual within the practice-driven domain of energy transition. His commentary on regulatory reform, community choice frameworks, and equitable electrification appears in executive briefings, policy forums, and sector-specific convenings, shaping both practitioner discourse and adjacent scholarly work in energy policy, environmental governance, and distributed infrastructure design.