Will you be paying too much for heat this winter?

We all know how the Northeast is facing a looming crisis because of growing heating costs this winter.

So how effective a regulatory watchdog is the little-known state Public Utilities Commission? (The PUC's three commissioners are pictured above, along with their most outspoken critic, two-time AG candidate Bill Harsch.) Steven Stycos reports on this story in this week's Phoenix:

After watching the Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission (PUC) approve a 21.7 percent increase in National Grid’s electricity prices in July, and a nine percent hike in the company’s natural gas prices, two outspoken critics are renewing calls to revamp the state agency.

The PUC, they say, represents the interests of the utilities, not the public— in part because Republican Governor Donald L. Carcieri’s reappointed former utility executives to key regulatory posts. ....

PUC commissioners insist they were compelled to approve National Grid’s recent rate-hike requests because federal and state regulators already approved the company’s contracts to purchase gas and electricity, and since state law requires the PUC to pass those costs on to consumers. Growing worldwide demand for fossil fuels and a non-existent federal energy policy are to blame, they say, not their purported allegiance to the utilities.

Among Stycos's findings:

-- Assessing the PUC's performance is a challenge:

Much like lawyers who avoid critiquing judges, utility representatives, energy consultants, and environmentalists are loath to comment about the PUC, for fear of angering commissioners who make key decisions on their interests.

-- State law has mandated a five-member commission since 2002, but the PUC operates with three commissioners.

-- The PUC proposed and then backed away from new regulations barring non-lawyers from representing people at utility shutoff hearings.