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THIRD PEOPLE’S COUNSEL
Frederick D. Dorsey (1984-1990)
Frederick D. Dorsey distinguished himself as a consumer advocate in an era when the advocacy movement was gaining strength. In 1982, he joined the D.C. government as the principal deputy corporation counsel for two years before his appointment to the Office of the People’s Counsel. Dorsey became the third People’s Counsel for the District of Columbia in 1984 and served in that position until 1990.
On Dorsey’s watch, OPC’s budget and staff levels rose, and by the
end of his tenure, the operational capacity of the agency had been upgraded. He created systems that grew the Office and enhanced its capacity to effectively advocate for D.C. ratepayers in accordance with its statutory mandate. In this role, Dorsey planned and implemented
a multiyear agency expansion and realignment in accord with newly enacted legislation that clarified the agency’s statutory authority.
In 1987, the District of Columbia Bar named Dorsey Consumer
Lawyer of the Year. He served on the executive board of the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates and became vice president of the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates in 1989. After Dorsey’s OPC tenure, he became an associate judge on the Superior Court of the District of Columbia from 1990 until his retirement in 2003.
Deregulation Plays Out in the D.C. Market
Historically, utility companies controlled the energy markets without competition — vertically integrated monopolies that were solely responsible for generating, transmitting, and distributing electricity to customers.
“25 years ago, Pepco was a vertically integrated monopoly. Pepco owned generation stations in the city and outside of the city and ran the entirety of the distribution transmission and distribution system from those generating stations into the District of Columbia.”
- Ted Trabue, Commissioner, D.C. Public Service Commission
OPC’s Journey to Protect Utility Consumers
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