Bill would shift utility consumer protection to Attorney General

Jennifer Coleman

Wednesday, March 31, 1999 | 11:53 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Under a developing plan for deregulating Nevada's power industry, consumer protection would be moved from the Public Utilities Commission to the Attorney General's office.

It's an arrangement neither office is too happy about. But lawmakers think one consumer protection entity would end what they see as duplicating efforts.

Fred Schmidt, the state's advocate for utility customers, would inherit consumer complaints and education duties under Senate Commerce and Labor Chairman Randolph Townsend's plan.

That means thousands of additional phone calls atop the many calls the staff in the Attorney General's office currently gets, Schmidt said during a Commerce and Labor hearing Monday on deregulation.

"If this section is passed, we'll have to pick up the pace to make sure there's the same representation," Schmidt said, adding that he'd need a budget increase.

Schmidt and the PUC's consumer services manager, Rick Hackman, are drafting an alternative to that part of deregulation.

Schmidt said his office should get involved when a utility breaks laws or rules that protect consumers. But he says the PUC should continue to handle applications by companies wanting to enter the market.

"I don't think there's anything productive in shifting that role to a law enforcement office," he said.

Michael Pitlock, a member of the PUC, said there's less duplication than what's perceived. He noted his office handled 520 cases last year, and the Attorney General's office got involved in only 24 of those.

But Townsend, R-Reno, questioned the PUC staff's third-party status in cases that ultimately must be decided by Pitlock and other commissioners.

"I don't see the need in a criminal proceeding for a third party. There's the prosecutor, the defense, the judge. They don't have a third party to intervene and set the record," Townsend said.

Pitlock countered that the staff role helps in getting a "middle-of-the-road" solution in cases.

"If the only thing we have in the record is the utility's side on one extreme and the consumer advocate on the other extreme, there's nothing representing a middle-of-the-road solution," Pitlock said.

Instead of ending the staff role, he suggested lawmakers could provide better guidance for the staffers.

Townsend insisted it's not the PUC's job to ensure that views of all parties in a case are adequately represented -- especially views of competing utilities.

"The parties that are not represented by the consumer advocate generally have the resources to intervene on their own behalf. If they choose not to, that's their decision," Townsend said.

"Competitors are risk-oriented individuals, it's not our job to protect their interests," he added.