Reviewing rate applications from SaskEnergy, SaskPower and the Saskatchewan Auto Fund includes analysis of large volumes of financial and technical information, much of it specific to the industry in which the utility operates. The Panel hires independent professionals with years of experience and specific expertise to assess each rate application and provide the Panel with their unbiased assessment of it. Our technical consultants are selected from among accredited professionals based outside Saskatchewan, to ensure they are able to provide the Panel with an impartial appraisal of the rate application under review.
Gerry Forrest of Forkast Consulting has served the Panel as technical consultant on several SaskPower rate applications. Gerry has almost four decades of experience in the public policy and energy regulatory sectors, including serving as a Deputy Minister in the Manitoba government and as Chair of the Manitoba Public Utilities Board for 13 years. He is based in Winnipeg.
InterGroup Consultants Ltd., has served the Panel as technical consultants for SaskEnergy commodity and delivery rate applications. Andrew McLaren, a principal with InterGroup, has considerable experience with utility regulation in various jurisdictions in Canada. Mona Pollitt-Smith, a consultant with InterGroup, has a law degree and specializes in utility regulation. She assisted with the technical review and preparation of the independent consultants’ reports on the SaskEnergy rate applications.
Roger Cathcart, of Cathcart Advisors Inc., advises the Panel on Saskatchewan Auto Fund rate applications. Roger is a Chartered Professional Accountant with over 25 years experience in public practice. He is a member of the Chartered Professional Accountants Institute of Ontario and Manitoba, and a Chartered Business Valuator. He has also served as Senior Advisor to the Public Utilities Board of Manitoba in the annual rate-setting process for Manitoba Public Insurance for almost 20 years.
Paula Elliott and Ted Zubulake of Oliver, Wyman Ltd., provide actuarial consulting services to the Panel. Oliver, Wyman Ltd., which is one of the largest actuarial consulting firms in North America, also serves as actuarial advisors to the Alberta Automobile Insurance Rate Board, the British Columbia Utilities Commission, the Financial Services Commission of Ontario, the Newfoundland and Labrador Board of Commissioners of Public Utilities and the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board.
Paula and Ted are Fellows of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries, and of the Casualty Actuary Society. Paula is based in Toronto; Ted in New York City.