Office of Small Business Advocate
The Office of Small Business Advocate ("OSBA") was established by the Small Business Advocate Act, Act 181 of 1988, 73 P.S. §§399.41 et seq. ("Act").
The Act directs the OSBA to represent the interests of small business consumers of utility services before the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission ("PUC"), in the courts and before comparable federal agencies. For purposes of the Act, a small business consumer is defined as "a person, sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, association or other business entity which employs fewer than 250 employees and which receives public utility service under a small commercial, small industrial, or small business rate classification."
Business and residential customers generally have a similar interest in keeping a proposed utility rate increase as small as possible. The Attorney General's Office of Consumer Advocate ("OCA") usually presents expert testimony in opposition to rate increases, on behalf of both residential and business customers. However, the interests of business and residential customers may conflict on the issue of rate structure (in other words, the percentage of a rate increase to be borne by each particular category of customer). In a rate structure dispute, the OCA represents the residential ratepayers. Furthermore, the large commercial and industrial customers frequently have their own attorneys and expert witnesses. As a result, there was a danger prior to Act 181 that a disproportionate share of any rate increase would be allocated to small business customers because they usually could not afford their own representation. The legislature sought to alleviate that danger by creating the OSBA.
Under the Act, the OSBA is granted broad discretion concerning whether or not to participate in particular proceedings before the PUC. In exercising that discretion, the OSBA is to consider the public interest, the resources available, and the substantiality of the effect of the particular proceeding on the interests of small business customers. The OSBA is selective in intervening in PUC proceedings in order (1) to avoid duplicating work already being done by the OCA and (2) to focus its efforts on those matters where the interests of small business customers are likely to be different from those of the utility's other customer classes.
In addition to the OSBA's duties regarding utility matters, Article XIII of the Workers' Compensation Act, 77 P.S. §§1041.1 et seq., authorizes the OSBA to represent the interest of employers in proceedings before the Insurance Department involving the premiums charged for workers' compensation insurance policies sold in Pennsylvania. Consequently, the OSBA reviews the "loss cost" filings made each year by the Pennsylvania Compensation Rating Bureau and the Coal Mine Compensation Rating Bureau of Pennsylvania and submits comments and recommendations to the Insurance Department.
The OSBA staff includes both attorneys and support personnel. The OSBA is supervised by the Small Business Advocate, who is a gubernatorial appointee confirmed by the state Senate.
The OSBA is administratively included within the Department of Community and Economic Development ("DCED"). However, the Act specifically provides that the Secretary of DCED is not in any way responsible for the policies, procedures, or other substantive matters developed by the OSBA to carry out its duties under the Act.
Contact info:
Office of Small Business Advocate
300 North Second Street, Suite 1102
Harrisburg, PA 17101
Phone: (717) 783-2525
Fax: (717) 783-2831
For more information, please contact us.