PSC tells Senate finance its $26.8 million base budget is unchanged; flags vacancies, E‑911 fees and pending pipeline hearings

Chairwoman Charlotte Lane of the West Virginia Public Service Commission told the Senate Finance Committee that the commission’s base budget request is unchanged from last year at $26,826,023 and that the PSC is funded entirely by special revenue, not general revenue.

Lane said the PSC’s appropriations are largely supported by assessments on utilities and described the current assessment rates: “Right now, our assessment is at 26¢,” she said, and the property assessment is set at 0.065 (65% of the 10¢ statutory maximum). Lane said the 26¢ assessment produces roughly $13,800,000 and the property assessment brings in about $4,400,000. She described the commission’s three appropriated state funds as the utility fund (the largest), gas pipeline safety and motor carrier, and said federal funds support pipeline safety and motor carrier work.

The nut of Lane’s presentation was that the PSC is a largely self‑funded regulator with concentrated cash flows early in the fiscal year: “97% of this revenue is received in the first 2 months of the fiscal year,”…