The NCUC is a hybrid workplace, allowing remote work but requiring some presence in office, particularly during proceedings before the Commission.
Required Education:
4 Year Degree
The North Carolina Utilities Commission is an independent agency of the State of North Carolina created by the General Assembly to regulate the rates and services of all investor-owned public utilities in North Carolina, including electric companies, natural gas distribution companies, water and wastewater companies, passenger carriers by ferry boat, carriers of household goods, and other companies engaged in providing miscellaneous utility services.
It is the Commission's responsibility to ensure that North Carolina customers have access to safe, reliable and affordable utility service. In carrying out its charge, the Commission employs professional staff, which is organized into the Operations Division and the Legal Division. This position is within the Operations Division and works collaboratively with other members of the Operations Division, including financial professionals such as CPAs, MBAs and economists. This position also works closely with members of the Legal Division, which consists primarily of attorneys and paralegals.
The work of the Public Utilities Regulatory Analyst II position focuses on, in general, cost recovery by the utilities and service quality of the utilities. In general, the Commission works to understand the costs that utilities incur to provide service to customers and to establish just and reasonable rates that the utilities may charge customers in order to recover those costs. This position is involved in the following types of proceedings before the Commission: general rate cases; annual expense or commodity cost recovery proceedings; rule-makings; and requests for special accounting orders.
This position is also involved with other types of proceedings, such as requests to transfer control (sales, mergers, and/or acquisitions) or ownership of utilities; requests for the approval of certificates of public convenience and necessity to construct new generating facilities; transfers and/or contiguous extensions of existing service area franchises; and the appointment of emergency operators.
This position will be involved in matters related to the calculation of the cost of service and revenue requirements, cost allocation among customers, cost allocation among jurisdictions, and rate design. This work will entail review and analysis of programs implemented by the utilities, including special rate designs or customer programs, including pilot programs that are implemented to understand costs, customer behavior, and operational implications for the utilities.
This position functions, in effect, as a technical expert for the Commission. The work requires independent assessment, evaluation, research, and development of recommendations to resolve pending issues. The work also requires the ability to function well within a multi-disciplinary team of professionals. The work requires the ability to read and review both testimony and workpapers of parties appearing before the Commission, to write clearly and effectively, and to communicate technical information clearly and concisely to technical and lay audiences, both orally and in writing. Finally, the position requires interaction with Commissions, which includes defending recommendations made to the Commission.
The regulation of public utilities is a highly dynamic and complex field that involves law, public policy, economics, accounting, and finance and impacts the lives of all North Carolinians. The professionals who work at the Commission are engaged in emerging issues of critical importance to the State and its citizens, including the provision of affordable and reliable utility service, the integration of renewable energy resources into the electric system, and the increasing challenges associated with utility infrastructure and service, such as cybersecurity risk and extreme weather impacts. This position will be involved in issues that are critical to the transformation of the electric system away from fossil fueled generation toward carbon free generation and will have a hand in decisions that directly impact this transition. This position will also be involved in matters related to the provision of safe and reliable water and wastewater service, which will include analysis of how issues such as emerging contaminants and technologies as well as natural resource constraints impact safe, reliable and affordable service.
This position provides an excellent opportunity for a motivated individual who is ready to engage with other service-oriented professionals and contribute to the work of the Commission.
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities / Competencies
This position requires a highly motivated and diligent individual with high degrees of initiative, integrity, and attention to detail who can function efficiently and effectively independently and can also function effectively as a member of a team.
Technical knowledge of the economic regulation of investor-owned public utilities.
Demonstrated ability to perform quantitative and qualitative analysis in the field of economics, accounting, engineering, or finance with limited supervision/oversight.
Demonstrated experience researching, analyzing, and evaluating technical accounting and financial issues.
Strong analytical, writing, communicating, time management and organizational skills.
Demonstrated ability to function effectively in an inherently stressful work environment.
The ability to defend analyses, opinions and recommendations relating to the variety of complex issues that routinely come before the Commission in the context of adversarial legal proceedings.
Management Preferences:
Knowledge of the economic regulation of investor-owned public utilities; (e.g., rate base, rate-of-return) or experience working for a public utility.
Advanced skill level utilizing Microsoft Excel, including experience.
Bachelor’s degree in accounting, banking, finance, business administration, economics, or related discipline from an accredited institution and3 years of directly related experience or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
