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Rebecca Bachelder, Blueflame’s President, has extensive experience in utility ratemaking and as an expert witness in matters including issues associated with cost of service, performance based regulation, cost allocation, marginal cost studies, rate design, cost-of-gas adjustments, non-gas cost tracking mechanisms, capacity allocation or assignment, capacity mitigation measures, supply cost recovery, unbundling, balancing, utility and pipeline transportation tariffs.
Ms. Bachelder has worked in the utility industry for over thirty years and began her career with Boston Gas Company where over the course of eighteen years, she developed expertise in all areas of ratemaking, gas costs, asset accounting and gained a familiarity with gas operations. With Boston Gas, she was an expert witness in fifteen Massachusetts proceedings including four base rate proceedings where she provided written and oral testimony on the topics of performance based ratemaking, revenue adjustments, sales volume, allocated cost of service studies, marginal cost of service studies, rate design, cost of gas adjustment clauses and other non-gas recovery mechanisms. Subsequent to Boston Gas, Ms. Bachelder joined AllEnergy Gas & Electric Marketing Company LLC where she utilized her industry and ratemaking expertise to represent AllEnergy throughout the Northeast in over fifty proceedings. Ms. Bachelder formed Blueflame Consulting in 2003 and has represented energy marketers and customers in numerous proceedings in New England. Ms. Bachelder has worked on aspects of base rate proceedings in other jurisdictions as well. She has a Masters in Business Administration from Boston University and an Undergraduate degree in Finance from the University of Massachusetts.
Blueflame Consulting Melrose, MA
President June 2003 - Present
Ms. Bachelder founded Blueflame Consulting in 2003 to provide advisory services to unregulated energy marketers in the New England market and has assisted customers with utility regulatory and pricing issues. Ms. Bachelder has saved marketers and commercial and industrial customers who have moved to the competitive market millions of dollars through her expertise in rate making and competitive market policy. Her 18 years of experience with Boston Gas Company (acquired by Keyspan and now National Grid) as manager of Rates and Regulatory Affairs and an additional six years experience with AllEnergy Marketing Company, a competitive energy supplier as Director of Regulatory Affairs have given her the experience and expertise required to successfully advocate for customers and suppliers in a regulatory environment.
AllEnergy Gas & Electric Marketing Company, L.L.C Waltham, MA
Director, Legislative and Regulatory Affairs 1997 to May 2003
Ms. Bachelder was responsible for legislative and regulatory policy and for protecting unregulated energy company’s interests in regulatory proceedings. Regulatory participation contributed to the growth and profitability of a 40 Bcf per year business. Ms. Bachelder educated legislators and regulators as to elements required to open and enhance competitive energy markets. Coverage included the New England states, New York and New Jersey. Ms Bachelder was an active participant in gas and electric collaboratives and restructuring proceedings in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Rhode Island, New Jersey and New Hampshire, and co-chaired the Massachusetts Gas Unbundling Collaborative. She intervened in utility rate cases, and other utility proceedings. Her accomplishments included settlement of Model Terms and Conditions for Gas Utilities and Suppliers in Massachusetts, marketer lead for settlement effort of Connecticut restructuring proceedings.
Director, Customer Care 1999-to 2001
In addition to her regulatory responsibilities, Ms. Bachelder was responsible for back office operations. Her responsibilities included enrollment of customers internally and with utilities, billing, customer service, credit and collections. Ms Bachelder took over the Customer Care function on a temporary basis. The billing function was in disarray and severely backlogged. She reorganized the group and brought billing to current within five months without adding staff. Ms. Bachelder supervised a permanent staff of twenty.
Boston Gas Company Boston, MA
Manager, Rates and Regulatory Analysis 1995 to 1997
Ms. Bachelder was responsible for developing and implementing a regulatory strategy for the distribution utility. Pricing and regulatory work contributed to profitable growth of the $700MM and 140 Bcf per year business. Since 1984, Ms. Bachelder served as an expert witness on rate design, unbundling and customer pricing policy issues. Her accomplishments included development of the first performance-based regulatory plan for a gas distribution business in New England and development and implementation of a transportation rate design appropriate to unbundle the company's entire customer base. Pricing responsibilities included development and implementation of distribution rates and tariffs and market-based pricing for negotiated agreements.
During 1995, Ms. Bachelder was a primary client team member working with consultants to assist senior management at both the distribution company and the parent company in arriving at an appropriate strategy for the parent's energy business. Her project work included identification of potential businesses, identification of partners for strategic alliances and preliminary discussions with potential partners to determine viable candidates. This project resulted in the formulation of AllEnergy Marketing Company.
Manager, Rates and Accounting 1988 to 1995
Ms. Bachelder was responsible for pricing of distribution rates, purchased gas adjustment, margin analysis and forecasting and financial and plant accounting. She worked with outside council to develop testimony, write briefs and appeals, and supervised a staff of twenty.
Other Positions 1979 to 1995
Director, Rates and Revenue Analysis; Economist; Market Analyst; Budget Analyst; Accountant
Education
Boston University, Graduate School of Management 1985
Master of Business Administration
University of Massachusetts, School of Management 1979
BBA - Finance, Magna cum Laude Energy Industry Group Participation:
· Member of Northeast Energy and Commerce Association, Northeast Gas Association,
Connecticut Power and Energy Society.
· Represented the Market Access Coalition – a group of six marketers - in proceedings in
New England and New York.
· Presented views on industry restructuring before a number of industry groups, including
NECPUC, CBIA, AIM, NECA, MA Electric Roundtable, NESA, Massachusetts
Unbundling Collaborative, New York Reliability Collaborative and NEGA.
· New England Gas Association. Served as Planning and Rates Committee Chairperson
for 1992 and 1993 and committee member from 1988 to 1997. Responsible for
developing educational programs and developing semi-annual rate workshops.
· Featured Presenter at the Mid-West Rate Symposium in May of 1995
. Massachusetts Revenue Requirements Forum - member 1988-1997
· American Gas Association – former member
Other Industry Consulting
For the Association for Work Process Improvement, “TAWPI”, 2009-2010 Payments Processing Benchmark Study to analyze the costs of processing paper bill payments at in-house lockboxes for industries including natural gas and electric utilities. The study also assessed the potential for cost savings that could be achieved through increased utilization of automation and electronic payments, i.e. “ACH”. The study included utilities, insurance, banks and other financial service companies for both in-house and third party lockbox operators. Blueflame is currently developing a study to assist utilities and other major billers in the adoption of turn-off of paper statements or statement suppression (“Pay-it-Green”) on a voluntary basis for their customers.
Blueflame staff provided the carbon footprint analysis of consumer payment of paper bills with checks and the impact of these mail and in-person payments on carbon emissions, fuel consumption and waste water for the NACHA Pay-It-Green Initiative.
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