Rick Starkweather

Partner

Rick Starkweather has been a management consultant for over 20 years and leads ScottMadden’s regulatory practice. His areas of expertise include strategic and business planning, budgeting and forecasting, regulatory compliance, rate case support, and organizational and operations improvement. Prior to joining ScottMadden, Rick was a consultant with Deloitte Consulting. He also has experience in the healthcare and chemical industries and helped lead the start up of two companies. Rick received a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Northwestern University and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business. He is also a Certified Measurement and Verification Professional (CMVP) through the Association of Energy Engineers.

Specialties

Recent Assignments

Viewpoints

Specialties

Energy regulation
Strategy development
Business planning and budgeting
Operations improvement and process redesign
Organization design and restructuring
Sustainability

Recent Assignments

Directed the assessments of a mid-Atlantic and a western electric utility’s NERC reliability compliance documentation. Scope included a review of applicable standards, evaluation of existing documentation to determine adequacy given the requirements, and development of additional documentation to prepare for upcoming compliance audits
Conducted a review of a utility’s transmission cost recovery, mercury emissions reduction, environmental, and conservation improvement rate riders. Scope of review included the processes for budgeting and forecasting cash flows for eligible projects and the tracking of projected cash flows for each project through the company’s budgeting and fixed asset accounting systems, and the revenue requirements calculations supporting the riders
Developed a new strategic plan for a federal power agency addressing customer relationships, power supply and infrastructure management, operational excellence, financial strength, and organizational effectiveness
Developed statistical sampling methodologies to test gas main extension and new service capital projects for a midwestern gas utility. Defined the population of all projects, identified sample projects, compiled necessary documentation to assess tariff compliance for these projects, and developed rate base adjustments to address uncollected contributions in aid of construction based on sample results
Completed a leading practices assessment of the financial forecasting process for a southwestern electric utility. Scope included an evaluation of activity cycle times, potential bottlenecks, and process handoffs. Identified opportunities to improve overall timeliness and accuracy, and enhance existing quality assurance steps
Conducted an assessment of the capital budgeting and reporting processes of a combination gas/electric utility that was migrating to a future test year in several jurisdictions. Developed recommendations and process improvement initiatives to improve accuracy of in-service dates and overall forecast accuracy, resulting in better rate case assumptions, improved budget and forecast data, and more accurate accounting data
Assessed a utility’s supporting documentation for a transmission and distribution loss study. Work included a review of previous studies, analysis of intervener issues/concerns and an evaluation of company assumptions and analyses. Results of this study were used in the development of retail billing determinants

Contact Information

Phone

(919)781-4191

E-mail

rstarkweather@scottmadden.com

v-card

Resume (PDF)