Utility rates topic of upcoming EPIC Energy Seminar

Christopher Ayers, executive director of the N.C. Utilities Commission Public Staff, will discuss “Utility Ratemaking 101” from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., Thursday, June 2, in EPIC, Room 1332. This presentation is part of the EPIC Energy Seminar Series. Click here for more details and to register to attend.

Rates of privately owned electric, gas, water and sewer utilities in North Carolina are established by the N.C. Utilities Commission pursuant to a statutory framework enacted by the General Assembly. Rates are typically established through a general rate case and must be just and reasonable, but certain expenses can be recovered through annual rider mechanisms. This seminar is designed to help attendees better understand the processes utilized by regulators when establishing and adjusting rates for regulated public utilities by delving into the ratemaking formula and other concepts that help shape utility rates.

Ayers, a native of Rutherfordton, graduated magna cum laude from Duke University with bachelor’s degrees in political science and sociology in 1999. He received a Juris Doctor with Honors from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2002. From August 2003 to June 2009, he practiced law with the firm of Hunton and Williams LLP and Poyner Spruill LLP from June 2009 until he joined the public staff in June 2013. His primary areas of practice were utilities regulation, environmental and zoning and land use law. He also served a two-year term on the Environmental Management Commission from July 2011 through June 2013.