A lot has changed since the Office of Consumer Counsel (OCC) was created back in 1984 to represent the interests of residential customers in rate cases involving regulated utilities.
But a lot has stayed the same, including perhaps the most important fact of all: Utilities hold a lopsided advantage over consumers in terms of information they possess when they go before regulators asking for rate hikes or other changes in rules. It is very difficult for most outsiders to tell whether a request is fair.
The OCC attempts to level the playing field with a few experienced analysts who examine such requests and advocate for consumers’ interests. The result has almost certainly saved Coloradans hundreds of millions of dollars over the years.
Colorado’s Sunset Law requires agencies like the OCC to be reauthorized periodically, and the OCC’s sunset review is up before the current legislature. Moreover, an initial hearing last week before the Senate Agriculture, Natural Resources and Energy committee did not go well. Several senators appeared unaware of what the OCC does, or were confused about its duties. Yet it would be a huge mistake if they let the consumer counsel’s office expire when the committee meets again today.
No one will agree with every one of the OCC’s judgments — we certainly haven’t — but time and again it has provided a powerful, somewhat lonely voice on behalf of consumers, and frequently has made a difference.
Consider Xcel’s SmartGridCity in Boulder, whose costs ballooned from $15 million to $44 million. The OCC was instrumental in persuading the Public Utilities Commission to limit ratepayers’ exposure to $27.9 million, even though PUC staff initially were inclined to let consumers pay a much higher share of costs.
And in 2010, then consumer counsel Bill Levis was the only state official who raised questions about how the Clean Air Clean Jobs Act was being rushed through the legislature without proper analysis of its potential impact on consumers or whether it was a sweetheart deal for industry.
Over the years, this sort of blunt advocacy has made the OCC a few enemies, who would like nothing better than to see it silenced. The Department of Regulatory Agencies is recommending the OCC be authorized for 11 years. And while lawmakers can argue over whether that’s too long, there should be no doubt about whether the office should survive.
To send a letter to the editor about this article, submit or check out our for how to submit by e-mail or mail.
