475A.6  Certification of expenses to utilities division.

The consumer advocate shall determine the advocate's expenses, including a reasonable allocation of general office expenses, directly attributable to participation in proceedings involving specific utilities, and shall certify the expenses to the utilities division not less than quarterly. The expenses shall then be includable in the expenses of the division subject to direct assessment under section 476.10.

The consumer advocate shall annually, within ninety days after the close of each fiscal year, determine the advocate's expenses, including a reasonable allocation of general office expenses, attributable to participation in proceedings involving public utilities generally, and shall certify the expenses to the utilities division. The expenses shall then be includable in the expenses of the division subject to remainder assessment under section 476.10.

The consumer advocate is entitled to notice and opportunity to be heard in any utilities board proceeding on objection to an assessment for expenses certified by the consumer advocate. Expenses assessed under this section shall not exceed the amount appropriated for the consumer advocate division of the department of justice.

The office of consumer advocate may expend additional funds, including funds for outside consultants, if those additional expenditures are actual expenses which exceed the funds budgeted for utilities investigations and directly result from investigations of utilities. Before the office expends or encumbers an amount in excess of the funds budgeted for investigations, the director of the department of management shall approve the expenditure or encumbrance. Before approval is given, the director of the department of management shall determine that the investigation expenses exceed the funds budgeted by the general assembly to the office of consumer advocate and that the office does not have other funds from which investigation expenses can be paid. Upon approval of the director of the department of management, the office may expend and encumber funds for excess investigation expenses. The amounts necessary to fund the excess investigation expenses shall be collected from those utilities being investigated which caused the excess expenditures, and the collections shall be treated as repayment receipts as defined in section 8.2, subsection 8.

Section History: Recent form

  83 Acts, ch 127, § 13; 90 Acts, ch 1247, §10

Internal References

  Referred to in § 476.10


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