ABSTRACT
Participation may, in any case, involve engaging an attorney experienced in regulatory proceedings to represent a customer (or group), but customers may also participate directly. Economic fairness based on costs of service is a general goal, but ratemaking may shift costs to fulfill a variety of other demands. A few of them might even cut a utility's costs and/or help elicit utility participation on their behalf against public utility commission staff or other intervenors. A critic once likened utility ratemaking to a bar fight wherein "the winner is the last drunk left standing". Public hearings on the proposed deal may be held, but most are merely for show and venting of complaints. Interventions are a gamble: a participant may spend tens of thousands of dollars in fees for legal and expert witness support and save nothing. There are no guarantees that intervening will net anything beyond headaches and unrecovered expenses.
