Regulatory Process Enhancements at Essential Utilities

Intro

Essential Utilities is a leading provider of regulated water and gas utility services across multiple states. Facing increasingly complex regulatory environments, Essential required support in rate case preparation, modeling, and execution to ensure accurate filings and favorable outcomes.

Bill Packer, VP of Regulatory at Essential Utilities, has overseen countless rate cases during his 26+ years in the industry. His perspective provides a unique client-side validation of how Regulated Capital Consultants (RCC) delivered measurable value.

The challenge

Essential Utilities encountered two critical challenges that required outside expertise:

Texas – Filing the first full general rate case in over 20 years. With no active models, 25 profit centers, and 300+ systems, Essential required an end-to-end modeling framework built from scratch, meeting stringent Public Utility Commission requirements.

North Carolina – Transitioning to a multi-year rate plan while simultaneously migrating from Lawson to SAP ERP systems. Data existed in two separate platforms, and regulatory requirements had shifted from historical test years to forward-looking multi-year filings.

---

Use Case 1: North Carolina Multi-Year Rate Plan

Situation

Essential Utilities faced a perfect storm in North Carolina. The company was in the middle of a major systems migration, moving from Lawson to SAP ERP. This left key financial and operational data split between two platforms, creating significant challenges for consistency and accuracy. At the same time, new legislation in the state had shifted the regulatory environment away from traditional historical test years toward a forward-looking multi-year rate plan. This requirement meant filing a base pro forma period, a bridge year, and three future rate years — all of which required precise and reliable modeling. Compounding the challenge, the utility’s existing Excel-based models were designed for historic test years, with structures dating back over a decade. These legacy spreadsheets were never intended to handle the volume, complexity, or multi-period forecasting that the new regulatory framework demanded

RCC’s Solution

• RCC stepped in to design a new multi-year revenue requirement model purpose-built for North Carolina’s new rules. 
• Leveraging their ASI software, they consolidated trial balances and billing data from both Lawson and SAP into a unified dataset. This data enrichment ensured the accuracy of inputs across multiple systems while making the results verifiable and repeatable.  
• RCC worked hand-in-hand with Essential’s local teams, building automated processes to validate, reconcile, and update data efficiently. What once required weeks of manual manipulation could now be refreshed within days, ensuring interrogatory updates and regulatory requests could be met promptly and with confidence. 
• RCC provided direct testimony (written and oral) in support of certain aspects of the case 

Results

• With RCC’s support, Essential successfully filed its first multi-year rate plan in North Carolina.  
• The enriched and automated data flows gave the team confidence during discovery and testimony, enabling them to respond to regulators’ questions quickly and consistently.  
• Update cycles that had historically taken weeks were reduced to just a few days, and the new framework laid the groundwork for repeatability in future filings. As Bill Packer noted, the process evolved from “building the car” the first time to simply performing an “oil change” in subsequent filings. 

“When we look at our rate case, we have our revenue data, ERP data, fixed asset systems, and tax systems—all different sources. What RCC brought was the ability to consolidate and enrich that data into something repeatable. The updates became very nimble and not an exhaustive effort once the process was set up.” 

– Bill Packer, VP of Regulatory at Essential

---

Use Case 2: Texas First General Rate Case in 20+ Years

Situation

Texas presented a different challenge. Essential had not filed a general rate case in more than 20 years — the last was under a different regulatory body (TCEQ) before jurisdiction shifted to the Texas PUC. The lack of an existing model meant there was no foundation to build on. Essential had to start from scratch, designing a comprehensive framework that could withstand the scrutiny of a modern commission. The scale was massive: 25 profit centers, over 300 systems, and potentially 40 different revenue requirements that needed to be consolidated into one filing. Bill Packer described it as a “massive project,” with the risk that disorganized or inconsistent data could derail the case.

RCC’s Solution

• RCC partnered with Essential to create a revenue requirement model with supporting workpapers tailored to the Texas PUC’s Chapter 15 250+ minimum filing requirements.  
• They began by extracting SAP trial balances, then translating and mapping them into NARUC accounts to ensure consistency and transparency across the filing. This master dataset became the single source of truth, dramatically reducing the risk of internal inconsistencies that regulators could exploit.  
• RCC also automated much of the data enrichment and validation process for the billing analysis utilized in rate design. In doing so, they replaced a 20-page manual data enrichment document—previously filled with copy-paste steps and prone to errors—with streamlined workflows inside ASI. These workflows added controls and repeatability, reducing both effort and risk. 

Results

• Essential successfully filed a high-confidence, regulator-ready case in Texas.  
• The automation replaced months of manual preparation with a repeatable process that now takes only days.  
• The enriched and validated master data not only provided confidence internally but also strengthened Essential’s credibility with regulators and intervenors.  

Beyond the Texas filing, the framework proved adaptable, creating a repeatable model that can be reused across states and for future Texas filings. 

---

The finish line

Accuracy & Transparency – Every dataset reconciled to financial statements and auditable by regulators.

Repeatability – From “building the car” in the first filing to an “oil change” in subsequent cases.

Tax & Regulatory Alignment – Deferred tax and normalization compliance integrated seamlessly.

Efficiency Gains – Data refreshes and interrogatory updates reduced from weeks to days.

Scalable Framework – Solutions applied across multiple states and regulatory environments.

---

“My main criteria in the engagement was something that is repeatable, scalable, and trainable for my local team. RCC delivered exactly that, and it’s positioned us for success across multiple jurisdictions.”

– Bill Packer, VP of Regulatory at Essential

Through our expertise in rate case management, tax integration, and data automation, RCC enabled Essential Utilities to modernize and future-proof its regulatory processes. By delivering repeatable, auditable, and efficient solutions, we ensured Essential could meet evolving regulatory demands with confidence.