Consumer protection — Committee director says she stands up to utilities

Michele Beck gave up working for one of the nation's biggest utility companies to serve in one of Utah's most controversial public posts.

The 39-year-old single mom took a pay cut to come to Utah after being appointed in November by Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. to serve as director of the Committee of Consumer Services, a state organization charged with protecting the interests of consumers and small businesses in utility rate cases.

The director position could best be described as a lightning rod, where the pressures of monopoly utilities, angry consumers and political maneuvering are part of the daily routine.

But for Beck, a former resource planning analyst at Xcel Energy in Minnesota, the director position is a comfortable fit, similar to five years of work as a consumer advocate for the Minnesota Department of Commerce.

She views her role as an advocate, not simply as an administrator, yet acknowledges that the six-member committee under which she serves sets the direction and policy.

"This is taking my career back in a direction where I want to go, where I feel like I am making a difference," Beck said. "I was thrilled to move back into a position where I am working directly with the consumers."

Less comfortable for Beck are the accusations and criticism the position attracts.

Roger Ball, a former director of the committee who served in the position from 1997-2005, likens the job to the Cinderella of state government.

"Nobody wants you there except for consumers when rates go up," Ball said. "If you independently and vigorously represent the interests of consumers, the utilities hate it. If you don't do the job and roll over and just play the politics of it — go along to get along — the utilities will leave you alone, but ratepayers will suffer."

Beck stepped into the position after her predecessor, Leslie Reberg, served barely a year as director before quitting in 2006 to run for Salt Lake County recorder.

"It's a position where it's a balancing act, and you're responding to numerous constituencies, but at the end of the day you have to represent residential consumers," Reberg said. "That is a vital role, but a very complicated arena of utility regulation."

After being appointed in 2005 by Huntsman, Reberg, a former US WEST employee, was blasted by consumer advocates for her work on the utility side.