January’s Public Utilities Fortnightly includes 27 pages on our visit to the Maine PUC. Here's an excerpt from an interview with Mitch Tannenbaum, Maine PUC's General Counsel:
“I enjoy trying to do what is in the public interest. Although Staff members may initially disagree on the appropriate outcome of issues, we’re all trying to figure out what the right answer is for Maine’s ratepayers.
After the record is closed, the attorneys and analysts sit down and say, okay, let’s work on the outline for the examiner’s report recommended decision. What are you thinking? Somebody may say, I think we should go down this route.
Somebody else may say, no, I think that may be the wrong approach and here’s why. We talk it out and consider alternatives. By doing so, we figure out what might be a problem with various solutions. We ultimately decide on the appropriate recommendations for Commission consideration.”