Department Information

• Employer-sponsored RTD EcoPass, with offices located at Civic Center Plaza, above the RTD Civic Center station and just a few blocks from RTD light rail.
• Extensive work-life programs such as a telecommuting program, flexible schedules, training and professional development opportunities on a wide variety of subjects, and more!
• Employee wellness programs, including the Colorado State Employee Assistance Program (CSEAP), which provides free, confidential counseling services.
• Bike-to-work programs, including access to storage lockers and bike racks.
• Flexible retirement benefits, including a choice of the PERA Defined Benefit Plan or the PERA Defined Contribution Plan, plus optional 401K and 457 plans.
• Medical and Dental Health Insurance for employees and optional coverage for their dependents.
• Life Insurance for employees, and optional coverage for their dependents.
• Paid Time Off, including 10 paid holidays.
• Short- and long-term disability coverage.
• Tuition assistance program.

Description of Job

DORA’s Public Utilities Commission (PUC) serves the public interest by effectively regulating utilities and facilities so that the people of Colorado receive safe, reliable and reasonably-priced services consistent with the economic, environmental and social values of our state.
The Fixed Utilities sections of the Commission includes economists, rate/financial analysts, engineers and administrative support, supplemented by outside experts. The staff within these sections work together as a team to challenge, develop, present and recommend complex economic, financial, engineering and legal proposals regarding utility regulation. The staff functions both in uncontested proceedings as well as in formal litigated proceedings before the Commission. In performing these functions, the work unit must balance the need for financially healthy utilities with the needs of consumers for safe, reliable electric, gas, steam, water and/or geothermal utility service at rates that are just and reasonable. An increasingly important function of the work unit is to assist addressing: increased focus on consumer protection and affordability; emerging technologies and increasing competition in many areas of utility operations; environmental impacts and related costs of traditional utility services; and an increased legislative focus on energy and environmental policies.
Position: SGA 5094
The purpose of this position is to help the Commission develop rules and decisions concerning cost-effective electric and gas utility demand-side management and beneficial electrification programs. Per Colorado statute, demand-side management programs include energy efficiency, conservation, load management, beneficial electrification, and demand response programs. This position conducts research, provides technical advice, analyzes testimony, and makes recommendations that assist the Commission in determining demand-side management and beneficial electrification policies regarding: program expenditure and production goals, targets, incentives, and results; program evaluation parameters that are measurable and statistically valid; financial performance incentives and revenue decoupling mechanisms to reward utilities for deployment of cost-effective programs; program evaluation tools to determine the cost-effectiveness of demand-side management and beneficial electrification program results, to evaluate if targeted energy savings occurred, and to evaluate compliance with established goals and targets, including availability of these programs to all customer classes; cost recovery mechanisms for the programs; and annual reporting of program results from electric and gas utilities.
Duties include, but are not limited to:

• Evaluating Colorado public utilities demand-side management and beneficial electrification programs in order to verify that the services provided meet technical and Commission standards;
• Designing, implementing, and monitoring Commission rules regarding annual reports related to utilities’ compliance with applicable law and initiating enforcement actions, if necessary, to ensure compliance;
• Assisting in the evaluation of large and complex data sets and conducting economic, statistical, and financial analysis related to public utilities;
• Reviewing, analyzing, interpreting, and providing testimony on the effect of demand-side management and beneficial electrification programs on utility energy and coincident peak demand forecasts for each major customer class, as well as any such measures that have been approved by the Commission but are not included in the forecasts;
• Serving as “trial or litigation staff,” given the adjudicatory nature of the Commission’s administrative law processes, which includes developing litigation strategy and the scope of staff advocacy with guidance provided as necessary by the Section Chief;
• Reviewing the reasonability of utility proposals; performing economic analyses as a basis for recommendations to approve, modify or deny utility applications or tariff filings; and interpreting and implementing policies for utility cost recovery;
• Participating in challenging and lengthy negotiations for settlement with other interveners and utilities in order to potentially reach compromise on issues; if compromise cannot be reached, the Commission often decides such complex issues through litigation;
• Performing research as directed by the Commission or the Deputy Director regarding energy efficiency, demand response, beneficial electrification, economics, demographics, energy, and other data sets to help inform the analyses and recommendations of the Economics Section in various proceedings.

Minimum Qualifications, Substitutions, Conditions of Employment & Appeal Rights

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS (MQs):

• Graduation from an accredited college or university with a bachelor’s degree in engineering, statistics, mathematics, environmental science, economics, public policy, or in a field of study closely related to the work assignment;
• Three (3) years of progressively responsible, professional* experience conducting economic and financial analysis.

• A combination of professional* work experience as described above, which provided the same kind, amount and level of knowledge acquired in the required education, may be substituted for the bachelor’s degree on a year-for-year basis;
• A master's or doctorate degree from an accredited college or university in a field of study related to the work assignment may be substituted for the required experience on a year-for-year basis.
• Certification, registration, or licensure related to the work assigned to the position will substitute for one year of the required experience.

• Professional work involves exercising discretion, analytical skill, judgment and personal accountability and responsibility for creating, developing, integrating, applying, and sharing an organized body of knowledge that characteristically is: uniquely acquired through an intense education or training regimen at a recognized college or university; equivalent to the curriculum requirements for a bachelor's or higher degree with major study in or pertinent to the specialized field; and continuously studied to explore, extend, and use additional discoveries, interpretations, and application and to improve data, materials, equipment, applications and methods.

• Advanced degree in engineering, statistics, mathematics, environmental science, economics, public policy;
• Experience gathering, researching, synthesizing and summarizing existing technical, cost-benefit analysis, financial, and policy studies including technological, economic and policy changes impacting electric and gas utilities;
• Project management experience, including organizational skills and prioritization and delegating of tasks to other team members;
• Experience understanding, interpreting, analyzing, and providing recommendations on technical, legislative and policy proposals;
• Experience answering and asking discovery in potential litigated proceedings, performing analysis on key fundamental issues in those proceedings, developing written testimony, and the demonstrated ability to defend a position that is subject to cross-examination;
• Experience utilizing Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) technical and reliability standards;
• Experience and/or knowledge and familiarity with national, regional and state energy policy, including evaluating and implementing policies related to new technologies, energy efficiency, electric and gas rate design, etc.

• Demonstrated interpersonal skills and the ability to work effectively on collaborative, multi-disciplinary teams;
• Demonstrated ability to conduct research and gather pertinent technological, economic and financial information;
• Demonstrated understanding of how to build consensus in a complex and high-pressured, politically-charged environment;
• Demonstrated understanding of quality customer service, including the ability to diplomatically deal with difficult customer interactions;
• Flexibility and adaptability with regard to change management, including the ability to adhere to changes in work processes, adapt to changing priorities, and maintain a willingness to comply with and support organizational change(s);
• Demonstrated ability to understand and abide by workplace principles, practices and behaviors as internally identified and defined by the division;
• Ability to represent the department and the PUC in a positive, professional and objective manner, and support a positive workplace environment;
• Ability to handle sensitive and/or highly confidential information in a professional and ethical manner, and in accordance with state and federal laws;
• Comfortable demonstrating expertise in front of authorities, including defending well-researched recommendations;
• Knowledge of and/or ability to facilitate the legislative and rulemaking processes;
• Ability to read and analyze laws, rules, regulations and policies and interpret them in order to explain them to various stakeholders, with input from colleagues and legal counsel;
• Strategic thinking, including the ability to identify emerging issues, anticipate trends, and provide recommendations on strategies to minimize risk impacts;
• Demonstrated time management skills, including the ability to manage competing priorities and meet hard deadlines;
• Oral communication skills, including the ability to verbally communicate effectively to a diverse audience;
• Written communication skills, including the ability to complete reports in a clear, accurate, and concise manner;
• Demonstrated attention to detail;
• Professional demeanor;
• Proficiency in the use of various PC software applications including Microsoft Office (Access, Word, Excel, etc.), and Google Suite.

• The successful passing of a reference check and/or, if required, a background check.
  • A reference check may include but is not limited to: contacting previous and current supervisors to verify employment and discuss performance, a review of the personnel file, a review of the performance record, etc.
  • The type of background check depends on the job duties of the position, and can include a review of any criminal record, credit report, and/or driving record.
• Effective September 20, 2021, employees will be required to attest to and verify that they are fully vaccinated for COVID-19. Upon hire, new employees will have three (3) business days to provide attestation to their status with proof of vaccination.
• Note: Fully Vaccinated means two (2) weeks after a second dose in a two-dose series of the COVID-19 vaccine, such as the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, or two (2) weeks after the single-dose vaccine, such as Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen vaccine, as defined by the State of Colorado’s Public Health Order and guidance issued by the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment.

Supplemental Information