(Photo courtesy of Arizona Corporation Commission)

Doug Little is chairman of the Arizona Corporation Commission.

One of Arizona’s top regulators is leaving his post for a job with the Trump administration.

On Wednesday, Arizona Corporation Commissioner Doug Little announced he will be joining the Department of Energy where he will serve as deputy assistant secretary for Intergovernmental and External Affairs

Commissioner Little was elected to the public utilities commission in 2014. It was his first time holding elected office. He has been with the regulatory agency during one of its most turbulent periods. He took over as chairman following the resignation of former commissioner Susan Bitter Smith at the end of 2015.

He is also one of the two regulators who benefited from dark money spending widely believed to have come from Arizona Public Service in the 2014 election cycle. Since then, Little and his fellow commissioners have been locked in a dispute with commissioner Bob Burns about that spending.

Little calls the new job a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and a chance to influence energy policy at the national level.

“This job has been one of the best for me as it has given me the ability to have a positive impact on state water, power and telecommunication resources, and getting those services to Arizonans,” Little said in a statement.

He will start next month, and Gov. Doug Ducey will appoint his replacement.