PSC tells Legislature unpaid WAPA, Waste Management assessments have gutted regulator's budget; staff seek direct-transfer fix

The Public Services Commission warned lawmakers on July 9 that long-standing unpaid assessments from the Water and Power Authority and the Waste Management Authority have left the regulator short of operating funds and unable to carry out some investigations.

PSC staff reported Waste Management had five years of unpaid assessments totaling $1,656,495 (transcript figure: $1,656,495; transcript variant shows $1,656,495.42) and that WAPA owed for 2024'26 totaling $4,136,287.71. "At the rate we're going, that number is just growing exponentially," a committee member said during questioning.

Agency staff told the committee they have not received assessment payments from WAPA or Waste Management "as of today," and that the PSC's finances rely on those legally mandated assessments. Agency officials asked the Legislature to consider a statutory change requiring the portion of assessments due the PSC to be withdrawn directly from semi-autonomous agencies' appropriations and deposited into PSC accounts rather than routed through executive-branch appropriations.

"We are asking for the legal lawful assessments that are assessed on the utilities on an annual basis," a PSC official said during the hearing. The commission said direct-withdrawal language would ‘‘help tremendously" to assure funding for regulatory functions.

General counsel Boyd Scranton cautioned that receivership would be legally complex. "Receiverships are generally set up for the benefit of debtors, not for the public," he said, and added that governmental entities face constraints (they cannot file for bankruptcy) that make receivership an unusual and legally challenging remedy.

PSC staff told the committee the last correspondence to WAPA requesting payment was sent in June 2026; correspondence to the Waste Management Authority had not been issued in recent months but staff said they would provide that record.

Why it matters: The PSC said unpaid assessments have reduced its ability to open and complete rate dockets and investigations because it lacks funding for docket-specific work and staff needed to carry out regulatory oversight. Lawmakers pressed that suspending rate investigations risks leaving consumers without an effective regulatory check on utilities.

What happens next: Staff said they would provide the committee with lists of statutorily mandated reports and correspondence records and that they intended to follow up with utilities in coming weeks. Lawmakers discussed drafting legislation to address direct transfers of assessment funds to the PSC.

Sources: Testimony to the Legislature's Budget, Appropriations and Finance Committee on July 9, 2026; testimony by PSC general counsel Boyd Scranton and PSC staff.