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Public Service Commission seeks added staff and commissioner pay adjustment amid large rate cases and grid concerns
Summary
The Utah Public Service Commission requested one new utility‑risk management FTE and proposed adjusting commissioner salaries to 90% of a district court judge’s pay; the commission also described expected activity for the Utah Universal Service Fund and cited wildfire mitigation and reliability as near‑term regulatory priorities.
Jerry Fenn, chair of the Utah Public Service Commission, and Gary Wittenberg, the commission secretary, told the Joint Appropriations Subcommittee the commission needs additional technical capacity and a modest change in commissioner compensation to keep pace with complex regulatory responsibilities.
“We are in the middle right now of a very large general rate case, probably unprecedented in scope,” Chair Fenn said, describing multi‑phase hearings the commission is conducting on Rocky Mountain Power’s 2025 filing. He said the commission has roughly 13 legal and technical employees devoted to rate and regulatory matters and that staff levels have not increased in many years despite an expanding docket.
The commission requested one utility‑risk management FTE to focus on transmission planning, wildfire mitigation, cybersecurity and integrated‑resource plan review; staff estimated ongoing salary and benefits for that position at about $150,000 and a one‑time office reconfiguration cost of about $35,000. The commission also proposed increasing commissioners’ salaries to roughly 90% of a district court judge’s salary; commission staff estimated the ongoing payroll cost of the adjustment at about $77,000 annually.
Wittenberg explained the funding for these requests would come from the public‑utility regulatory restricted account, which is supported by a regulatory fee collected from regulated utilities. He also reviewed the Utah Universal Service Fund, a separate expendable special‑revenue fund supported by a per‑line surcharge (currently 98¢ per month). The commission presented projected revenues and distributions and said it expects the fund to have sufficient ongoing receipts to support distributions to rural carriers and to Relay Utah and Lifeline programs.
Members pressed the commission on whether the new responsibilities arising from recent legislation — including wildfire mitigation surcharges and other regulatory duties — would require additional staff beyond the single requested FTE. Chair Fenn said the new FTE would address many emerging needs but acknowledged the overall workload is large and growing.
No vote was recorded on the commission’s requests during the meeting; commissioners said they would provide further detail and justification to the committee and that the requests are reflected in the governor’s budget submission.
