our programs
NARUC's Regulatory Training Initiative (RTI) provides live online and pre-recorded training courses to regulators, commission staff, and stakeholders to increase their knowledge of regulatory issues and processes. The courses focus on the principles of regulation, as well the key skills required to participate in regulatory proceedings, including regulatory accounting and finance, cost-benefit analysis, and the fundamentals of utility law. The curriculum also includes emerging issues and policies in utility regulation, and introductions to new and emerging technologies and requirements affecting electricity, water, gas, and telecommunications. Courses range in length from 6 hours to 18 hours and are accessed remotely via Zoom. Students are encouraged to ask questions and propose new subjects and instructors to help the initiative grow and expand.
Registration for Live Courses ends at 5:00 PM ET on the day before the first class.
PBR for Energy Utilities
October 17, 18, 19, 2023 from 2:00 – 4:00 PM ET
This 6-hour course taught by expert Mark Newton Lowry will explore performance-based ratemaking (PBR). The traditional cost of service approach to energy utility ratemaking is under stress . Business conditions encourage frequent rate cases that weaken utility performance incentives and may raise regulatory cost. Many also question utility incentives to protect the environment. PBR can improve utility performance and under some approaches streamline ratemaking. This course will explain the rationale for PBR and detail four established approaches used today:
Salient precedents and recent developments will also be highlighted. Comparisons will be made to capital cost trackers and formula rates as well as to traditional ratemaking. Click here to register
Fees: $200 Full NARUC Members; $400 all others
On-demand courses must be pre-paid with a credit card. A “bill me option” is not available.
Purchase orders cannot be accepted. Each student must register separately. Group orders are not available.
Conducting Distributional Equity Analysis (DEA) (On-demand)
This 6-hour on-demand course taught by Tim Woolf and Alice Napoleon of Synapse and Nichole Hanus from LBL provides training on conducting Distributional Equity Analysis (DEA) in conjunction with benefit-cost analysis (BCA) to help inform regulatory decision-making in utility DER investments using a broad decision framework. The training describes the difference between DEA and BCA and walks through examples of conducting a DEA using selected distributional equity metrics and example target populations (e.g., disadvantaged communities). The course will use guidance on conducting DEA for energy efficiency and other DERs being developed by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). Click here to register
Fees: $150 NARUC Members; $300 all others
Introduction to Utility Finance for Regulators (On-demand)
This 6 hour on-demand course taught by Mark Cicchetti, Assistant Director, Division of Accounting and Finance, Florida Public Service Commission, provides students with an understanding of the basic finance and regulatory concepts of utility regulation. Topics include why utilities are regulated; risk and return; portfolio theory; the relationship between rate base and capital structure; the weighted average cost of capital; and the required return on common equity. The course will also review financial concepts commonly associated with utility regulation, such as optimal capital structure, market-to-book ratios, and securitized bonds. Click here to register
Fees: $150 NARUC members; $300 all others
Benefit-Cost Analysis (BCA) for Distributed Energy Resources (DERs): 2023
This om-demand course reviews the purpose, process, and key considerations in cost-effectiveness testing of single or multiple distributed energy resource (DER) investments. Taught by Karl Rábago (Rábago Energy) and Tim Woolf (Synapse Energy Economics), the course describes the fundamental principles of benefit-cost analysis, presents key factors and considerations for identifying relevant costs and benefits for different DER technologies, and explains to use a common framework to develop a primary BCA test for use in designing, evaluating, and improving DER programs and rates. Case studies will illustrate state application of a consistent BCA framework, as well as describe BCAs for select DER use cases. The course will be taught by Karl Rábago (Rábago Energy) and Tim Woolf (Synapse Energy Economics). Click here to register
Fees: $150 NARUC Members; $300 all others
How to Be An Effective Witness
This 3 day/6 hour live course taught by QSI consulting is directed to commissioners, commission staff, and stakeholders who prepare and deliver testimony in state regulatory proceedings. It reviews the institutional context of administrative agencies and how they implement their key purpose, the promotion of the public interest, through witness testimony. The course will also provide guidelines for writing sound and persuasive testimony as the foundation for being an effective witness. Click here to register
Fees: $150 NARUC members; $300 all others
Rate Case Basics – How to Prepare, Read, and Analyze a Utility Rate Case
This 3-day/6 hour course taught by Bill Steele provides an introduction to utility rate cases. It reviews the basic parts of a rate case and explains how these cases are developed. Students will learn how to read and audit a rate case. Click here to register
Fees: $150 NARUC members; $300 all others
The Basics of Utility Accounting and Ratemaking for Regulators
This 3-day/6 hour course taught by Bill Steele provides an introduction to the processes, general principles, and terms used in financial accounting and reporting by regulated utilities. The course addresses items of particular importance to utility regulation, including investments in capital, depreciation, etc. Examples from the utility industry will be used to illustrate key concepts and calculations. Click here to register.
Fees: $99 NARUC members; $199 all others
Including Equity and Energy and Environmental Justice in State Public Utility Commission Decisions
This course reviews the major definitions and dimensions of E&EEJ, including: reviewing proposed metrics for studying E&EEJ effects in each major dimension; reforming public participation processes to advance diversity, inclusiveness, and equity; examining the distribution of costs and benefits produced by ratepayer-funded programs and utility investments; adjusting utility tariffs to achieve more equitable outcomes; and integrating E&EEJ into the daily practices of utilities and utility regulators. The course will also report on the way in which state commissions are incorporating equity perspectives into utility regulatory proceedings. Click here to register.
Fees: $99 NARUC members; $199 all others
Telecom 101
This is an 8-hour course on current topics in telecommunications. It reviews the history of telecommunications regulation and universal service and the changes in state and federal oversight as competition has replaced direct regulation. Topics covered include Universal Service, Cooperative Federalism, the 1934 and 1996 Telecommunications Acts, key technical innovations (VoIP, wireless, 5G, satellite broadband), Lifeline, broadband deployment and adoption, and consumer protection. Click here to register.
Fees: $125 NARUC members; $250 all others
Fundamentals of Resource Adequacy
This recent RTI course covers concepts in resource adequacy and emerging methods to ensure grid reliability. This an eight-hour course, presented in four two-hour lectures. The course addresses several topics, including resource adequacy as an assessment of risk; the definitions and relationships between resource adequacy, reliability, and resilience; the role of regulators in assessing, forecasting, and ensuring resource adequacy; and emerging concepts in resource adequacy. Click here to register.
Fees: $125 NARUC members, $250 all others
An Introduction the Theory and Practice of Regulation
This program will provide participants with an introduction to the principles and practice of regulation. The principles of regulation are a mix of engineering, financial, legal, accounting, and economic concepts and methods that provide the basis from which regulatory decisions are made. The practice of regulation focuses on the scope of regulatory decisions and how those decisions are made, including the mix of different types of expertise needed to mold those decisions. Click here to register
Fees: $50 NARUC members and all others
If you are unable to attend or secure a substitute from the same organization, cancellation must be submitted via email to Bunnary Tan @ btan@naruc.org. A refund less a 20% processing fee will be provided if the cancellation is received no later than one week prior to the start date of the course.
If you cannot attend an RTI class, you may substitute an individual from the same organization. The substitution must be made one week prior to the course. The substitute must have a profile in the system. Click this link to create a profile in MatrixMaxx; https://www.naruc.org/mynaruc/. For assistance, email rtisupport@naruc.org.
NARUC reserves the right to cancel or postpone courses in the unlikely event of insufficient enrollment or other unforeseen circumstances.
Please email questions to RTISupport@naruc.org