An Audit Report on the Office of Public Utility Counsel's Performance Measure for Utility Bill Savings
February 2006
Report Number 06-024
Overall Conclusion
The Office of Public Utility Counsel's (Office) performance measure Bill Savings for Electric Customers does not accurately reflect the utility bill savings the Office achieves through its representation of residential and small commercial consumers in utility rate proceedings. As required by Texas Utilities Code, Section 13.007, the State Auditor's Office and the Legislative Budget Board have coordinated to audit this performance measure.
The Office reported that its efforts resulted in utility bill savings of $58.16 million in fiscal year 2004 and $2.66 billion in fiscal year 2005. Auditors' calculations of bill savings ranged from $30 million to $35 million for fiscal year 2004 and from $240 million to $274 million for fiscal year 2005.
Auditors' estimates differ from the Office's reported results because:
- The Office included utility bill savings for all consumer classes. However, Texas Utilities Code, Section 13.001, limits the Office's representation to only residential and small commercial consumers.
- The Office included utility bill savings that would be realized during the next 15 years, not just in fiscal years 2004 and 2005. For the reported performance measures to serve as an accurate reflection of the utility bill savings in fiscal years 2004 and 2005, only bill savings realized in those specific fiscal years should be reported in the performance measures for those years.
During this audit, the Legislative Budget Board, in cooperation with the Governor's Office of Budget, Planning, and Policy:
- Made changes to the performance measure definition to more accurately reflect the utility bill savings the Office achieves.
- Developed a new outcome measure that will calculate future bill savings for electric consumers.
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