Have a question for Ballotpedia staff?
Click here to live chat with one of our writers between 9am-5pm CST.




North Carolina Utilities Commission

From Ballotpedia
Jump to: navigation, search
North Carolina

North Carolina State Executives
GovernorLieutenant Governor
Secretary of StateAttorney General
TreasurerAuditor
Superintendent of Education

Agriculture Commissioner
Insurance Commissioner
Natural Resources Commissioner
Labor Commissioner
Public Service Commission

Contents

The North Carolina Utilities Commission is a seven person executive board in the North Carolina state government. The commission, charged with the regulation of rates and services of public utilities, is the oldest regulatory body in the state.

Current officeholder

The current chairman is Edward Finley, Jr.. He serves alongside William Culpepper, Bryan Beatty, Susan Rabon, ToNola Brown-Bland, and Lucy Allen. There is currently one vacancy on the commission: Lorinzo Joyner retired at the end of 2011.[1]

Authority

Passed in 1963, Chapter 62 of the North Carolina General Statutes, more commonly known as the Public Utilities Act, created the Utilities Commission in order to regulate the rates, services, and operations of public utilities.

Qualifications

There are no specific qualifications for this office.

Appointments

The commissioners are appointed by the Governor, with consent of the general assembly, to eight year terms. The chairman, designated by the governor, for four-years.

Vacancies

In the event of a vacancy in the office, the governor appoints a new commissioner to finish the unexpired term of the vacated position. That individual may, then, be re-appointed to a full term.

Duties

The North Carolina Utilities Commission is charged with administering and enforcing the Public Utilities Act to ensure that the state has an efficient and economic public utility system. Duties of the commission include:

  • Regulating electricity, telephones (including payphones), natural gas, water, wastewater, water resale, household goods transportation, busses, brokers, and ferryboats.
  • Regulating, to a lesser extent, electric membership corporations, small power products, and electric merchant plants
  • Administering programs to ensure the safety or natural gas pipelines
  • Conducting administrative hearings
  • Fixing the rates of public utilities

The commission does NOT regulate the following utilities:

  • telephone membership corporations
  • cable and satellite TV
  • commercial mobile radio service
  • date and internet service providers
  • cellular service
  • pagers

Divisions

There are three divisions within the commission:

  • The Administrative Division includes the chief clerk's office and the legal, court reporter and computer support sections.
  • The Financial Management Division manages the commission's budget and other fiscal matters. The staff handle the collection of a public utility regulatory fee from all jurisdictional utilities.
  • The Operations Division provides regulatory, financial, cost accounting, financal, economic, engineering, statistical, and operations analysis support and councel to the commission.

Compensation

In 2010, the Chair of the North Carolina Utilities Commission was paid an estimated $123,936 according to the Council of State Governments.[2]

Contact information

North Carolina Utilities Commission
North Carolina

430 North Salisbury Street
Dobbs Building
Raleigh, NC 27603-5918

Mailing address:
4325 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27603-4325

Phone: 919-733-7328
Fax: 919-733-7300
Email: Consumer Services

Departmental contact information

See also

External links

References

Personal tools
Namespaces
Variants
Actions
Encyclopedia:
Calendars
Get Involved:
Toolbox