Case Study: Canadian electricity transmission company achieves favorable regulatory ruling and limits disallowed capital costs with Protiviti

Utility company withstands regulatory scrutiny of capital project costs with expert help from Protiviti

Utility Company, an electricity transmission firm facing a provincial public utilities commission review, engaged Protiviti for expert regulatory-defense support to formally defend billions of dollars in capital project expenditures. The company needed help responding to intense intervener scrutiny and potential disallowances (initially estimated at more than C$50 million), so Protiviti provided regulatory support services including change‑order and procurement analysis, contract review, responses to Information Requests, and witness preparation.

Protiviti conducted detailed document reviews, prioritized and justified high-risk change orders, prepared witnesses and rebuttals, and provided real‑time analysis during the hearing. That approach produced a highly favorable ruling—limiting disallowed costs to only a fraction of the initially anticipated C$50M+—and led the Utility Company to retain Protiviti again to defend more than double the dollar value of projects in a subsequent proceeding.