WASHINGTON UTILITIES AND TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION

Respect. Professionalism. Integrity. Accountability.

Regulatory Analyst 3

Help protect the consumers of Washington state!

 

Salary Consideration: Range 65, Step A ($76,608) – Step L ($100,524) annually. 

The starting employment offer will be determined based on the successful candidates’ qualifications. Typically Step M of the pay range is a longevity step.

 

This recruitment is open until March 06, 2025, at 11:59pm.  

UTC reserves the right to render a hiring decision and/or choose to close or extend this recruitment at any given time.

 

 

The Opportunity:
The Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission (UTC) is seeking to fill the role of Regulatory Analyst 3 within the Energy Rates & Services Section of the Regulatory Services Division. Regulatory Analysts play a critical role assisting with the most complex accounting, financial, or technical issues by conducting and summarizing reliable analysis and audits. The Energy Rates & Services Section of the commission provides regulatory oversight of seven (7) electric and gas utilities, serving approximately three (3) million customers in Washington state, with annual revenues exceeding $4.5 billion.

Hybrid: 

Although this is a hybrid opportunity, the successful incumbent must reside within Washington state and must be available to report to the Lacey, Washington headquarters building when needed. 

 

Travel: 

Moderate travel during and outside normal work hours, throughout Washington state or the United States, may be required. This includes occasional overnight stays.

Who We Are:
Our mission is to protect the people of Washington by ensuring that investor-owned utility and transportation services are safe, equitable, reliable, and fairly priced. 
 

We protect consumers by regulating the rates, services, and practices of private or investor-owned utilities and transportation companies to ensure they are safe, equitable, reliable, and affordable.
  
The UTC is continually recognized for its excellence and integrity as a regulatory agency, as we challenge the status quo and ourselves to ensure equitable outcomes for our customers and the people of Washington state.
  
We recognize that our employees are the key to the agency’s success. We are committed to our work but value balance with our personal lives. We demonstrate our commitment to employees by providing an environment that stimulates professional growth, and offers continuing learning opportunities, meaningful work, and a comprehensive benefits package. For more information about our benefits or working at UTC, please visit our website. 
 

What We Offer Our Employees:

• UTC fosters an environment of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging, while striving to hire and retain a workforce from the communities we serve. 
• We place importance on a healthy balance between personal and professional lives; offering flexible work schedules, wellness programs, and mobile/telework opportunities.
• Through the state, our employees (and their families) are offered options for medical, dental, vision and basic life insurance. 
• We offer enrollment into the state retirement programs and a deferred compensation plan. 
• Throughout a calendar year, employees receive a minimum of 14 days of vacation leave per year and 11 paid holidays and 1 personal holiday in addition to accruing sick leave.

 

Our Values:

• Respect - We treat every person and interaction with consideration and goodwill.
• Professionalism - We are committed to excellence in our work and conduct.
• Integrity - We do the right things for the right reasons - trusting others to do the same.

 

Our Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Competencies:

1. EDI Knowledge, Understanding, & Commitment.
2. Self-Awareness and Commitment to Growth.
3. Cultivating Mutually Beneficial and Trusting Strategic Partnerships.
4. Inclusive Excellence & Allyship.

 

Duties

 

The Position:

Reporting to an assigned Section Manager, this position provides advanced-level knowledge as a Subject Matter Expert (SME) working on rates and services utility filings by providing accounting, financial, or technical analysis and audits. This position makes recommendations necessary for the commission’s decision-making processes with respect to services and the rates charged for them. This expert-level position performs work on complex issues with significant and broad impact on multi-billion-dollar gas and electric utilities, energy customers, and other communities and populations in the state.

 

What you’ll do:
Provide the commission with recommendations on decisions for utility filings through formal written memoranda, Commissioner briefings, public presentations, and in formal adjudications, such as general rate proceedings, through written and oral testimony. Assignments may often include unusual, strategically important, or politically sensitive issues and have a high degree of complexity. This is achieved by communicating clearly and concisely, describing issues in easy-to-understand terms. Expert-level recommendations are guided by the application of standard rules, procedures, orders, or processes, but also require exercising judgment or creativity. 

 

The successful candidate will independently undertake research that is directly relevant to the regulation of public utilities in Washington. Reviewing key commission orders, policy statements, industry trends, and developments across the United States for information relevant to current and future commission proceedings.

 

This position engages with policymakers, agency leaders, the Commissioners, industry advocates, company representatives, and other stakeholders affected by commission decisions in a collaborative manner, consistent with inclusive and collaborative conduct core competencies expected of UTC employees.

 

Additional duties include, but aren’t limited to the following:

• Reviews, analyzes, and reaches conclusions on complex and critical utility filings that may be broadly scoped and have significant impacts to consumers and utilities.
• Leads rulemaking teams and/or contributes as a participant by drafting administrative rules to implement new legislation, streamline or improve existing administrative procedures, or eliminate or replace outdated processes.
• Initiates and leads complex, specialized staff investigations concerning a utility’s business practice or potentially problematic regulatory issue, quantifies the financial impact of that practice or issue (if any), identifies the qualitative and quantitative impacts of the practice or issue to ratepayers and the public interest, identifies the root cause of the issue, and recommends resolution through a specific course of action to appropriate decision makers including agency leaders.
• Provides information and process guidance to utilities, utility customers, and other persons or groups affected by Commission decisions.
• Leads and participates in agency processes as a representative of the UTC. This includes preparing fiscal notes and detailing how a proposed bill would affect the agency’s workload, providing responsive materials for requests for public records, and attending section meetings and agency-required meetings.

Required Qualifications: 

OR

Experience must include:

1. Research and quantitative analytical experience, which includes experience researching, evaluating, and drawing conclusions from large amounts of quantitative and qualitative data; supporting recommendations with facts and analysis; and interpreting laws, rules, policies, and procedures.
2. Communication skills, which includes both formal and informal written and oral communication tailored to specific audiences and settings.
3. Team building experience, which includes experience developing positive, productive, and respectful working relationships with distinct stakeholders and co-workers.
4. Leadership.
5. Project management.

Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities in:

• Analytical Skills and Critical Thinking – Independently formulates judgments on complex issues, conclusions, and assertions through the identification, organization, and analysis of quantitative, qualitative, and anecdotal data, evidence, and research; reaches conclusions through the holistic review of multiple forms of evidence and identifies connections, gaps, discrepancies, and key data necessary to reach an informed decision; distinguishes information that is and is not pertinent to a decision or solution. Assesses the workload impact versus the value to the public interest of new proposal.
• Fundamental Regulatory Skills – Applies economic theory, accounting standards and principles, Commission policy and interpretive statements, legal precedents, administrative rules, and statutes in a manner consistent with the subject matter; examines issues to understand and discuss historical context; researches general fields of study to understand implication on regulatory mechanisms and practices including: economics, accounting, business administration, engineering, and computer science. Effectively persuades others to voluntarily accept recommendations or advice.
• Writing and Communication – Writes clearly and concisely using the Analytical Skills and Critical Thinking core competency and holistically reasoned arguments; independently translates complex technical concepts into messages non-technical audiences can readily understands; listens carefully, reflects upon what is being said, and responds appropriately; presents information clearly, accurately, and in an audience-specific manner; demonstrates situational awareness by adapting communication styles and tools to ensure that information is accessible to everyone including people of non-white cultures and backgrounds. 
• Inclusive and Collaborative Conduct – Takes responsibility for actions and impacts; works collaboratively as a part of a team; respects the point of view of others and approaches disagreements about work matters with active listening and good will; ensures individual interactions incorporate equitable treatment of the Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) Council and other marginalized communities and promptly reports incidences of inequity to a supervisor or leader; demonstrates UTC’s Values at all times, through the lens of antiracism, equity, diversity, and inclusion.
• Leadership – Leads by example, always demonstrating the Inclusive and Collaborative Conduct core competency, exhibiting balance and fair-handedness in considering various perspectives, maintaining composure and level-headedness in difficult situations; demonstrates emotional intelligence and intellectual humility; pursues compromise and collaboration.
• Project Management – Plans, designs, organizes, leads, and executes the work of an individual or team project, ensuring a high-quality work product within specific time constraints; leads the development of project plans which includes, but is not limited to, establishing realistic timelines, identification of attainable project deliverables, articulating clear roles and responsibilities for team members, and specifies criteria for successful project completion; regularly monitors progress and provides updates to direct supervisor and applicable leaders on the status of the project, including but not limited to, risks and issues that affect the completion of project deliverable(s) and general status updates; displays the Leadership core competency, and facilitates the building and managing of interpersonal relationships to ensure project success; demonstrates personal accountability and commitment to the success of a project; responsible for managing and facilitating internal and external feedback processes. 
• Mentorship – Explains and teaches a non-expert how to conduct analysis and reach a recommendation on the employee’s area of expertise; demonstrates the Inclusive and Collaborative Conduct and Writing and Communication core competencies; acknowledges that peers may have differences in how they best receive information due to personal, cultural, or linguistic preferences and modifies mentorship approach so that it is accessible to the recipient.
• Peer Review – Feedback is expected to demonstrate Inclusive and Collaborative Conduct and the Writing and Communication core competencies; be completed within a reasonable timeframe with reasonable accommodations as necessary consistent with section guidelines; be mindful of the personal, cultural, and linguistic preferences of the recipient. 
• Continuous Process Improvement – Uses Lean tools and principles to continuously identify improvements, solve problems, and improve work processes. Participates on process improvement projects/teams and thoughtfully engages in section/division meetings.

Demonstration of UTC Values (expected of all employees and leadership):

1. Respect: We treat every person and interaction with consideration and goodwill.
2. Professionalism: We are committed to excellence in our work and conduct.
3. Integrity: We do the right things for the right reasons- trusting others to do the same.

Demonstration of EDI Competencies (expected of all employees):

• EDI Knowledge, Understanding, & Commitment
• Self-Awareness and Commitment to Growth
• Cultivating Mutually Beneficial and Trusting Strategic Partnerships
• Inclusive Excellence & Allyship

Demonstration of UTC Core Competencies (expected of all employees):

1. Accountability - With courage, we hold ourselves and each other accountable for exhibiting respect, professionalism, and integrity.
2. DEI Knowledge, Understanding, & Commitment - Ability to be exposed to, know, and understand the language and concepts of DEI and be committed to being part of creating, maintaining, and improving a diverse, equitable, respectful, and inclusive workplace.
3. Self-Awareness and Commitment to Growth – Engages in self-reflection, lifelong learning, and growth.
4. Cultivating Mutually Beneficial and Trusting Strategic Partnerships - Conducts themselves in a manner that builds trust, enhances work relationships, and meaningfully partner and engage with those they serve and serve with.
5. Inclusive Excellence & Allyship – Ability to demonstrate that all people are valued and engaged as members of the group, team, organization, or community through equitable, inclusive, and respectful behavior.
6. Measuring Success and Improvement – Ability to develop, implement, evaluate, and continually improve strategies that promote equity and inclusion in their organization and with the communities they serve.
7. Customer Focus – Responsive to both internal and external customers. Works with customer to identify needs; assumes responsibility for own role in meeting those needs. Ensures commitments to customers are met. Receptive to customer feedback.
8. Results Focus – Accepts personal accountability for individual results or share of team results. Manages workload and interpersonal relationships to achieve results: prioritizes tasks appropriately, overcomes obstacles, works with others as necessary, and meets deadlines and quality standards.
9. Communication Skills – Demonstrates communication skills (reading comprehension, writing, listening, speaking) appropriate to the position. Shows respect and courtesy in interpersonal communications.
10. Adaptability/Flexibility – Open to new ideas. Responds constructively to change and stressful situations. In consultation with supervisor, adjusts plans to meet changing needs.
11. Self-Development – Demonstrates proactive learning. Keeps knowledge and skills up to date. Solicits and accepts constructive feedback. Seeks developmental assignments to improve skills. Turns challenges into learning opportunities. 
12. Continuous Process Improvement – Utilizes Lean tools and principles to continuously identify improvements, solve problems, and improve work processes. Participates on process improvement projects/teams. Actively engages in section/division huddles and incorporates visual management into daily work. 

Desired Experience, Knowledge, Skills, Abilities:

OR

• One of the following: 
  1. An advanced degree in a relevant field, such as economics, accounting, business or public administration, finance, social sciences, engineering, law, or related field and plus three (3) years performing regulatory or data analysis for Washington state government; one (1) year of which must have been performed at the RA 2 level or equivalent; or,
  2. An advanced degree in a relevant field, such as economics, accounting, business or public administration, finance, social sciences, engineering, or law or related field plus three (3) years of professional research or analysis experience with an institution engaged primarily in regulatory matters; or, 
  3. A bachelor’s degree involving a major study in economics, accounting, business or public administration, finance, social sciences, engineering, law, or related field and four (4) years of professional research or analysis experience with an institution engaged primarily in regulatory matters; or, 
  4. Three (3) years performing regulatory analysis for Washington state government; one (1) year of which must have been performed at the RA 2 level or equivalent; or, 
  5. Seven (7) years of work experience in economic analysis, financial accounting, public utility regulation, public utility law, or utility business operations; four (4) years of which must include research or analysis experience with an institution engaged primarily in regulatory matters.
• Experience in persuasive writing, writing for decision-makers, or advanced training in the standards of professional writing.
• Experience writing administrative rules or participating on a rulemaking at a regulatory agency.
• Experience leading and providing support to a team regarding daily tasks to be completed.
• Experience implementing data analytical tools and concepts, including but not limited to experience organizing and performing data mining and cleaning, statistical modelling, data visualization, and Microsoft software packages (such as Power Query, PowerBI, and Power Automate).  

About Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission

Connections working at Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission