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Public Utilities Commission budget review highlights commissioner pay request, records staff and regional grid issues
Summary
The Public Utilities Commission presented its FY2026 budget to JFAC, including a governor‑recommended 5% commissioner salary increase (statutory change required), steady reliance on dedicated assessments, and agency document management staffing and equipment replacement needs.
Eric Anderson, president of the Idaho Public Utilities Commission, summarized the commissionʼs FY2026 budget to the Joint Finance‑Appropriations Committee and highlighted a governor‑recommended 5 percent salary increase for commissioners that would require a statutory change.
Budget analyst Kellen McGurkin told the committee the commission is funded by assessments on regulated utilities and railroad rates under Idaho Code titles 61 and 62 and typically seeks to maintain roughly 60 percent of total appropriation in ending fund balance as a reserve for delayed biannual assessments. The PUC is authorized 48 full‑time equivalent positions and reported a five‑year filled‑FTP average of 84 percent and typical expenditures of about 81 percent of total appropriations.
McGurkin reviewed FY2026 requests that include a $23,100 ongoing appropriation to enact a 5 percent commissioner salary increase (the amount recommended by the governor and subject to statutory change by the Legislature) and $114,100 in one‑time dedicated funding for replacement items recommended by the Office of Information Technology Services, including a pipeline safety truck, laptops and network switches. The pipeline safety truck replacement cost was noted at roughly $40,500 on the agency list.
Commissioner Anderson described regional issues the PUC follows—such as choices by utilities to join different regional transmission organizations and market constructs—and said the commission engages to protect consumers and ensure utility viability. “We are very concerned with proper credit ratings for our utilities that we regulate…and part of that procedure is to make sure that we are doing what we need to do to be appropriate in those calculations,” Anderson said.
On records and document management, the commission told the committee it has four dedicated administrative staff who handle filings and consolidate records into the official docket; Anderson said the agency keeps a secure archive with records dating back to 1913. The PUC also described standard operating expense categories—personnel, operating and capital outlay—and noted recent IT replacements and DHR consolidation adjustments that affected prior fiscal years.
No formal vote was taken; commissioners and staff answered committee questions about staffing, document management and the proposed salary adjustment pending legislative action to change the statutory compensation schedule.
