Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Consumer Advocate Budget topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Consumer Advocate asks for extra $220,000 to hire engineers and temporary technical staff for utility cases
Summary
Robert Williams, director of the Consumer Advocate Division, asked the Senate Finance Committee to approve an improved budget to recruit engineers and temporary technical staff and to maintain a consultant budget that supports participation in complex utility rate cases.
Robert Williams, director of the Public Service Commission’s Consumer Advocate Division, told the Senate Finance Committee the division is funded by a portion of the PSC’s assessment and is seeking an improvement request to strengthen technical capacity.
“We are an independent part from the PSC. We actually advocate in front of the Public Service Commission,” Williams said, describing the division’s participation at PJM and in proceedings before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the Federal Communications Commission. Williams said the division relies extensively on outside experts and consultants to contest and analyze utility filings and rate cases.
Williams said the CAD seeks a $220,000 improvement request this year: $80,000 to raise pay levels to attract senior utility analysts and engineers and $120,000 to fund temporary positions or part‑time retired engineers. He said the governor and commission have approved the improvement request and that, with the request, the division’s personnel and expenses would total about $1,200,000. Williams said that, in the division’s current budget, roughly $412,000 of $536,472 in expenses are for outside experts.
Williams described staffing gaps the division wants to close: open utilities analyst positions, an attorney position he wants to convert to an engineering/technical analyst, and an executive assistant vacancy. He emphasized the difficulty of hiring experienced engineers, noting that starting salaries for new engineers in the market are often much higher than state pay ranges.
He described active and pending work: the CAD is participating in Appalachian Power Company’s first rate case since before COVID and has assembled multiple outside experts to analyze company claims. Williams said additional in‑house technical capacity would allow the division to participate more broadly and reduce reliance on outside consultants for every proceeding.
Williams closed by reiterating that the CAD’s funding is special‑revenue derived from PSC assessments and will not affect general revenue.
No formal committee vote on the CAD’s budget was recorded in the transcript; senators asked clarifying questions about vacancies and consultant spending.
