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Show Job Thankless But Gratifying, Irvine Reports By GARY R. BI.ODGETT News Editor BOUNTIFUL Being a member of the Utah Public Service Commission (PSC) is a thankless but gratifying job. THIS IS the way David Irvine, of Bountiful, Bounti-ful, one of three members of the rate-control board, summed up his commission post at a general membership meeting of the Bounti-ful Bounti-ful Area Chamber of Commerce last Wednesday. "A judge hears a case and in the end at least one side is happy," said Commissioner Commission-er Irvine. "But when we on the Public Service Ser-vice Commission hear a case, no one is happy." BUT COMMISSIONER Irvine says his job is very gratifying, just the same. "We know the job we have is important to not only the consumer but the utility company com-pany as well," he said. "Even though both, in the end, may not be satisfied, we know that we have done the best job we can to control rates and maintain an economic balance." ba-lance." COMMISSIONER Irvine says the most frequent criticism is "why don't you (PSC) ever say no to requests for increased rates." "It's just not possible to deny rate increases in-creases as often as the public would like," he said. "We must always keep in mind that by statute we must allow a reasonable rate of return based on what the public could get with a similar risk." HE ADDED: "We have to deal with realities reali-ties of investment, including how much it costs to borrow money and how much could be gained if that money was invested at a reasonable rate." Commissioner Irvine emphasized that Mountain Fuel Supply Company, for example, exam-ple, invests up to 50 percent of its revenue into capital expenditures and buys from other fuel sources nearly two-thirds of all the product it sells. "YET, MOUNTAIN Fuel is still among the lowest in the nation for rates it charges consumers," said Commissioner Irvine. "This firm, like many others, has an excellent excel-lent record of management." Meanwhile, Mountain Fuel increased its rates several times in recent years. Why? And who suffers from the increased rates of utilities? "The elderly and those on fixed incomes or without jobs," he said. "Some families simply cannot afford public utility costs and I can't promise they will go down. But if rates continue to rise, there will be many Utahns without heat next winter." COMMISSIONER Irvine, responding to a question from the audience, agreed that efficiency in operation is essential to keeping keep-ing costs down--and subsequently keeping utility rates to a minimum. "But how can a commission measure efficiency? effi-ciency? We are concerned, too, and the commission is in the process of measuring auditing processes, wages and salaries, operation costs, managment expenses, etc., but beyond this, what can we do," he asked. COMMISSIONER Irvine said the Public Service Commission has a limited staff "but the best qualified personnel in the commission's commis-sion's history." He said the budget is about $1 million and the staff includes researchers, resear-chers, economists, auditors, legal advisors, public accountants, secretaries, etc. --about 30 total. Asked by this writer if PSC members should be elected rather than appointed, Commissioner Irvine responded: "I'm not so sure that PSC members should be elected because that would add another outside . pressure to the pressure-packed job. "WHEN THE governor (a Democrat) nominated me (a Republican) for the appointment there was no outside political pressure. I entered the position without owing ow-ing anyone anything and simply did the best job I could. I was not affiliated with any. utility or group that may be approaching the (PSC) Commission and I feel this has been a great advantage ovec someone being elected to the same post." |