Welcome to the Washington State Utilities and Transportation Commission website.
Who We Are
The Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission (UTC) is a three-member commission appointed by the governor and confirmed by the state senate.
Our Mission is to protect the people of Washington by ensuring that investor-owned utility and transportation services are safe, available, reliable and fairly priced.
Regulated businesses include electric, telecommunications, natural gas, and water. The commission also regulates in-state household movers, solid waste carriers, private ferries, and inter-city busses, as well as safety issues affecting charter buses, railroads, limousines, and nonprofit senior/handicapped transportation services.
Washington State law requires that utility and transportation rates must be reasonable to customers, giving regulated companies a chance to cover legitimate costs and earn a fair profit, so it can stay in business. What is fair to the company, and at the same time fair to the people and businesses it serves, is what the commission must decide many times over. Cases are heard in a formal, legal setting, with the commission hearing evidence from all sides before issuing a decision.
For most of our state's history, private utilities and carriers providing public services usually have been monopolies. If they had been left unregulated, without the restraints of the free-market system, they would have had unchecked power over the state's most essential services.
Next Section: Open Public Agency