Despite staunch opposition from environmental activists, a controversial appointee to the city’s utility commission was confirmed to the board on Tuesday by an 8-5 vote.

Greer Gillis, the former head of the Department of General Services, will now sit on the Public Service Commission, a three-person agency tasked with regulating and overseeing the city’s large utilities, like Pepco and Washington Gas.

After being re-elected in November, Mayor Muriel Bowser removed Gillis from her post at DGS, which manages the city’s construction projects, and then nominated her to the PSC. The commission regulates Pepco, meaning it can influence the utility’s energy investments (and how much it invests in renewable sources of energy—a key source of concern for environmental activists).

“The PSC is the state agency responsible for implementing all climate-related policies…we have to get a progressive commissioner in here,” Nikhil Balakumar, the manager of the Coalition for a Resilient DC, told DCist ahead of the vote. Balakumar and other environmental activists opposed Gillis’s nomination to the commission, arguing that she doesn’t have the expertise necessary to push back against Pepco’s interests and prioritize environmental concerns.

Activists believed that they had the votes to reject Gillis, but they fell several votes short.

Still, even some of the councilmembers who voted in favor of the nomination appeared to validate concerns about her qualifications. Gillis is a transportation engineer with experience running large city agencies like DGS, which oversees the city’s real estate portfolio and construction projects. She does not have experience in regulating utilities, setting utility rates (which is a big part of PSC’s job), or the energy sector.

Ward 7 Councilmember Vincent Gray, who has publicly voiced reservations about Gillis’s nomination in the past, ended up voting in support of her nomination on Tuesday. But he didn’t seem very excited about it: he said that he was voting “somewhat reluctantly,” and that he knew Gillis “does not have the requisite experience to hit the ground running” in her new role.

Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans enthusiastically supported Gillis, though he too acknowledged she did not have experience in energy or utilities. He said that Gillis is an accomplished and impressive engineer and agency head, and that he felt confident she could learn on the job. “When you have talented people, you use them,” Evans said, even when they don’t meet every qualification for the job. At-large Councilmember Anita Bonds pointed out that the commissioner Gillis will be replacing—Betty Anne Kane—also lacked experience in rate-setting and energy. Kane was a former councilmember when she was appointed to her post on the PSC.

Several councilmembers said they felt confident that Gillis was a competent person who could learn on the job.

Others were not so sure. Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh—who has been outspoken against Gillis’s nomination in the past—said that Gillis “has no experience in the field of energy at all, much less utility regulation.” She also voiced concern about the fact that Gillis never applied for the position, but was simply selected for it by the mayor’s office. At-large Councilmember David Grosso likewise took issue with that. Gillis was first approached about the offer by Beverly Perry, an advisor to Bowser who used to work for Pepco. Grosso said he found that association improper.

But the opposition wasn’t enough. Only Ward 6 Councilmember Charles Allen, Cheh, Grosso, Chairman Phil Mendelson, and At-large Councilmember Elissa Silverman voted no.

“That was brutal, it was so close. Vince [Gray] was on our side most of the way. We got almost all the way there,” Balakumar told DCist after the vote. “We are incredibly disappointed on the yes votes on this, especially given the gravity of the situation. We hope that Ms. Gillis is eager to learn on the job, and to transform our grid.”