Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes

66 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 308 (2026)

Bureaus and offices.

✓ current as of May 2026

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§ 308. Bureaus and offices.

(a) Enumeration.--There shall be established within the commission the following bureaus and functions:

(1) Law Bureau.

(2) (Deleted by amendment).

(3) Bureau of Consumer Services.

(4) (Deleted by amendment).

(b) Law Bureau.--The Law Bureau shall be a multifunction legal staff, consisting of a prosecutory function, an advisory function, a representational function and an enforcement function. The Director of the Law Bureau shall be the chief counsel of the commission and shall serve at the pleasure of the commission. The commission may also, from time to time, appoint such assistant counsel to the commission as may be required for the proper conduct of the work of the Law Bureau. Assistant counsel may be removed by the commission only for good cause. The Law Bureau shall advise the commission on any and all matters. No counsel shall in the same case or a factually related case perform duties in the prosecutory and advisory functions, if such performance would represent a conflict of interest. Except for litigation referred to the Attorney General or other appropriate outside counsel, the Law Bureau solely shall be responsible to represent the commission upon appeals and other hearings in the courts of common pleas and in the Commonwealth Court, Supreme Court or other courts of this Commonwealth or in any Federal court or agency and in actions instituted to recover penalties and to enforce regulations and orders of the commission. If necessary to protect the public interest, the Law Bureau, pursuant to its prosecutorial function, may initiate and participate in proceedings before the commission.

(c) Bureau of Conservation, Economics and Energy Planning.--(Deleted by amendment).

(d) Bureau of Consumer Services.--

(1) The Bureau of Consumer Services shall investigate and issue final determinations on all informal consumer complaints and shall advise the commission as to the need for formal commission action on any matters brought to its attention by the complaints. Any party may appeal a final determination issued by the Bureau of Consumer Services and seek review by an administrative law judge or special agent subject to the procedures in section 335 (relating to initial decisions). The bureau shall on behalf of the commission keep records of all complaints received, the matter complained of, the utility involved, and the disposition thereof and shall at least annually report to the commission on such matters. The commission may take official notice of all complaints and the nature thereof in any proceeding before the commission in which the utility is a party. The commission shall adopt, publish and generally make available rules by which a consumer may make informal complaints. The bureau shall also assist and advise the commission on matters of safety compliance by public utilities.

(2) Annually on or before April 15, the commission shall submit a report to the Governor and to the Business and Commerce Committee of the House and the Community and Economic Development Committee of the Senate. The report shall compare all nonresidential categories of ratepayers for all electric and gas public utilities so that reasonably accurate comparisons of rates can be made between similar individuals or groups of nonresidential ratepayers receiving services in different service areas.

(e) Office of Special Assistants.--(Deleted by amendment).

(f) Other bureaus and offices.--(Deleted by amendment).

(g) Staff testimony.--(Deleted by amendment).

(Oct. 15, 1980, P.L.950, No.164, eff. Jan. 20, 1981; Dec. 18, 1980, P.L.1247, No.226, eff. Jan. 20, 1981; July 10, 1986, P.L.1238, No.114; Oct. 15, 2008, P.L.1592, No.129, eff. 30 days; Feb. 14, 2012, P.L.72, No.11, eff. 60 days)

2012 Amendment. Act 11 amended subsec. (b).

2008 Amendment. Act 129 amended subsec. (b) and deleted subsecs. (a)(2) and (4), (c), (e), (f) and (g).

1986 Amendment. Act 114 amended the entire section, effective in 60 days as to subsecs. (a), (b), (e) and (g) and immediately as to the remainder of the section.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 10 cases (1 in the last 5 years), 1980–2021 · leading case: Process Gas Consumers Grp. v. Pennsylvania Pub. Util. Comm'n, 511 A.2d 1315 (Pa. 1986).

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Process Gas Consumers Grp. v. Pennsylvania Pub. Util. Comm'n, 511 A.2d 1315 (Pa. 1986). · cites it 2× “66 Pa.C.S. § 308(c). However, the PUC reliance on this section is misplaced.”

Yeager's Fuel, Inc. v. Pennsylvania Power & Light Co., 804 F. Supp. 700 (E.D. Pa. 1992). · cites it 2× “an ongoing assignment in its mandates by Act 216 of the Pennsylvania Legislature” to “ ‘maintain a continuing surveillance of the utilities’ promotional activities’ and [to] take appropriate action when warranted.”

Bell Atl.-Pennsylvania, Inc. v. Pennsylvania Pub. Util. Comm'n, 763 A.2d 440 (Pa. Commw. Ct. 2000). · cites it 2× “However, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court held that the Public Utility Code section empowered the PUC only to carry out research on conservation, not to create a fund to support that work. The PUC’s position is to distinguish the Process Gas decision by reliance upon Chapter 30’s…”

Pennsylvania Pub. Util. Comm'n v. Seder, 106 A.3d 193 (Pa. Commw. Ct. 2014). “66 Pa.C.S. § 308. “Staff’ is defined as the “Commission’s Office of Trial Staff prosecutor or Law Bureau staff counsel and other Commission employees par *198 ticipating in a proceeding before the agency.”

Fairview Water Co. v. Pennsylvania Pub. Util. Comm'n, 422 A.2d 1209 (Pa. Commw. Ct. 1980). “In the instant case, our review of the record satisfies us that the staff engineer’s conduct was consistent with the purview of the Bureau of Consumer Services under Section 308(d) of the Code, 66 Pa. C. S. §308 (d); that the staff engineer was merely advising the Company while…”

Popowsky v. Pennsylvania Pub. Util. Comm'n, 805 A.2d 637 (Pa. Commw. Ct. 2002). “See 66 Pa.C.S. § 308. The Consumer Advocate raises a substantial commingling issue and we are troubled by the conduct of the Commission and its Law Bureau undertaking ex parte contacts with the Utility, something that would have been unethical for the Commission or any of its…”

United Tel. Co. v. Pennsylvania Pub. Util. Comm'n, 676 A.2d 1244 (Pa. Commw. Ct. 1996). “Section 308(d) of the Public Utility Code, 66 Pa.C.S. § 308(d). . The Wiretap Act defines "intercept” as "[a]ural or other acquisition of the contents of any wire, electronic or oral communication through the use of any electronic, mechanical or other device.”

Process Gas Consumers Grp. v. Pennsylvania Pub. Util. Comm'n, 480 A.2d 1273 (Pa. Commw. Ct. 1984). “66 Pa. C. S. §308(c). For a discussion of this testimony see ALJ Hoffman*s February 27, 1981 recommended decision at page 9.”

Bell Tel. Co. v. Pennsylvania Pub. Util. Comm'n, 528 A.2d 268 (Pa. Commw. Ct. 1987). “66 Pa. C. S. §308(b). Bell employees are also members of the class whose interests trial staff has a duty to protect.”

PA PUC v. Delaware Valley Reg'l Econ. Dev. Fund (Pa. Commw. Ct. 2021). “66 Pa.C.S. §308(b) (“The Director of the Law Bureau shall be the [C]hief [C]ounsel of the [PUC] .”

— 66 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 308(b) — 2 cases

PA PUC v. Delaware Valley Reg'l Econ. Dev. Fund (Pa. Commw. Ct. 2021). “66 Pa.C.S. §308(b) (“The Director of the Law Bureau shall be the [C]hief [C]ounsel of the [PUC] .”

— 66 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 308(c) — 4 cases

Process Gas Consumers Grp. v. Pennsylvania Pub. Util. Comm'n, 511 A.2d 1315 (Pa. 1986). “66 Pa.C.S. § 308(c). However, the PUC reliance on this section is misplaced.”

Yeager's Fuel, Inc. v. Pennsylvania Power & Light Co., 804 F. Supp. 700 (E.D. Pa. 1992). “an ongoing assignment in its mandates by Act 216 of the Pennsylvania Legislature” to “ ‘maintain a continuing surveillance of the utilities’ promotional activities’ and [to] take appropriate action when warranted.”

Bell Atl.-Pennsylvania, Inc. v. Pennsylvania Pub. Util. Comm'n, 763 A.2d 440 (Pa. Commw. Ct. 2000). “However, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court held that the Public Utility Code section empowered the PUC only to carry out research on conservation, not to create a fund to support that work. The PUC’s position is to distinguish the Process Gas decision by reliance upon Chapter 30’s…”

— 66 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 308(d) — 1 case

— 66 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 308(f) — 1 case

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