Partner
Catherine Webking provides clients with detailed and thorough advocacy on utility-related regulatory matters involving electricity, telecommunications, water, and natural gas services. She thoroughly understands her clients’ businesses to help them navigate the regulatory landscape to maximize success. Catherine enjoys and excels at providing her clients with exceptional representation and advocacy at the Texas Legislature, agencies like Public Utility Commission of Texas, the Railroad Commission and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and at the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT). Her undergraduate degree from Texas A&M in Chemical Engineering is a pivotal asset for advocacy in the often-times complex utility markets.
With a deep understanding of utility regulatory environments, Catherine understands the challenges related to the migration to competitive services in the relevant markets. She regularly advises utility market participants on regulations and compliance, rulemaking proceedings, contract negotiations, contested cases, rate cases, enforcement actions, complaints, litigation, and appeals. Her clients include competitive retail electric providers (REPs), renewable and fossil-fueled generators, storage, commercial and industrial customers, transmission and distribution providers, cooperatives, water utilities, competitive telecommunications providers, real estate developers, and property owners.
Catherine combines technical and business approaches to recognize and resolve regulatory impediments and realize opportunities for those clients. Chambers USA recently described her work as, “… much admired by her peers for her expertise in electricity and gas matters such as transmission and rate-setting work. One impressed client praised her ability to ‘see how issues taken in one proceeding might affect future efforts on another front.’”
Highlights of Catherine’s experience include:
- Represents a trade association of competitive retail electric providers in extensive rulemakings and contested proceedings at the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas.
- Provide regulatory advice and strategy regarding utility industry business structures and power purchase agreements.
- Daily advice for individual market participants on regulatory compliance and reporting before various state agencies.
- Technical resource and legislative advocacy for clients related to statutory changes affecting businesses in the utility industries.
- Navigated multiple companies through obtaining certificates to operate in utility markets.
- Represented special utility district in appeal of water rate-setting brought by customer group. The opposing side ultimately withdrew the appeal.
- Represented group of competitive telecommunications providers in obtaining legislative relief related to existing funding mechanism.
Community Involvement
- Appointed to the Texas Energy Reliability Council to represent competitive retail electric providers.
Memberships
- Texas Bar Foundation, fellow
- State Bar of Texas, Administrative Law Section
- Travis County Bar Association, Public Utility Law Section
- Gulf Coast Power Association
Distinctions
- Chambers USA. Energy: State Regulatory & Litigation (Electricity), 2020-2022
- Best Lawyers in America, Energy Law, 2016-2023
- Order of the Coif
Contact Catherine Webking at 512.575.6060 or cwebking@spencerfane.com.