Rate Counsel

Rate Counsel is a mid-sized state agency with 31 employees on the state payroll.

The most common title is Assistant Deputy Public Advocate 2 (26% of staff), followed by Deputy Public Advocate 2 and Clerk Typist. Median pay is $115,530, about 36% above the statewide median.

Median tenure is 7.0 years, shorter than the statewide median of 9.6 years. CWA represents the largest share of its unionized workforce (about 74%).

About Rate Counsel

The Division of Rate Counsel represents New Jersey consumers in utility rate cases. When an electric, gas, water or telecommunications company asks the Board of Public Utilities to raise rates, Rate Counsel is the party arguing the ratepayer side. It is deliberately independent of the board that decides those cases.

The roster is a small litigation office: assistant deputy and deputy public advocates carrying the case work, paralegal technicians and legal secretaries supporting it, and a single director. Median pay is high, which follows from a roster with essentially no junior tier rather than from unusual rates for the work. An office this small handling cases against utility companies with far larger legal budgets is worth keeping in mind when reading its headcount.

Who works here

These are the titles that carry the most people on this payroll. Each one links to its civil service specification, which sets out the duties, the minimum requirements and the salary range.

• Assistant Deputy Public Advocate 28 employees
  25.8% of staff · median $124,745 · CWA
• Deputy Public Advocate 23 employees
  9.7% of staff · median $170,000
• Clerk Typist2 employees
  6.5% of staff · median $45,472 · CWA
• Legal Secretary 12 employees
  6.5% of staff · median $66,975 · CWA
• Paralegal Technician 12 employees
  6.5% of staff · median $61,146 · CWA
• Network Administrator 11 employee
  3.2% of staff · median $84,548 · CWA
• Attorney Assistant1 employee
  3.2% of staff · median $84,150 · CWA
• Director Division Of The Rate Counsel1 employee
  3.2% of staff · median $184,000
• Deputy Public Advocate 11 employee
  3.2% of staff · median $170,000
• Administrative Analyst 41 employee
  3.2% of staff · median $127,826 · CWA
• Technical Assistant 21 employee
  3.2% of staff · median $75,822 · CWA
• Technical Support Specialist 11 employee
  3.2% of staff · median $89,810 · CWA
• Management Assistant1 employee
  3.2% of staff · median $76,768 · CWA
• Administrative Assistant 11 employee
  3.2% of staff · median $108,073 · CWA
• Executive Assistant 31 employee
  3.2% of staff · median $136,605 · CWA

How pay is spread

Below are the quartile boundaries for this agency's salaries, with the statewide equivalents alongside them for reference.

The middle half of this agency's employees earn between $76,768 and $133,961, a ratio of 1.75 between the two quartiles. State government as a whole sits at 1.81, so this agency's pay is bunched more tightly than average, which tends to happen where one or two large titles carry most of the staff.

• Lowest recorded salary$42,990
• Lower quartile$76,768
  statewide $62,428
• Median salary$115,530
  statewide $84,796
• Upper quartile$133,961
  statewide $113,264
• Highest recorded salary$184,000

Based on 29 salaried records.

Union representation

Which contract covers a job decides its salary schedule, its step ladder and its grievance route. This is the union mix on this payroll.

• CWA23 employees
  74.2% of the agency
• IBEW4 employees
  12.9% of the agency

Union coverage is identifiable for 87% of this agency's payroll records. The remainder are unclassified, exempt or managerial positions that sit outside a bargaining unit.

How long people stay

Tenure tells you something a salary table cannot: whether this is a place people arrive at or a place they stay.

Half of this agency's employees have been on the state payroll longer than 7.0 years, well short of the statewide median of 9.6. 35% joined within the last five years, and 27% have twenty years or more behind them.

• Under 5 years9 employees
  34.6% of those with a hire date
• 5 to 10 years8 employees
  30.8% of those with a hire date
• 10 to 15 years2 employees
  7.7% of those with a hire date
• 15 to 20 years0 employees
  0.0% of those with a hire date
• 20 to 25 years6 employees
  23.1% of those with a hire date
• 25 years or more1 employee
  3.8% of those with a hire date

Hire dates are present for 26 of this agency's 31 payroll records.

Civil service coverage

87% of this agency's payroll records carry a title that matches a published civil service specification. The rest are unclassified, exempt or agency-specific positions filled outside the competitive examination process, so the standard exam and eligible list route covers most but not all of the jobs here.

• Records matched to a specification27
• Records with no matching specification4
• Distinct civil service titles on the roster15

Where it sits among state agencies

By headcount this is the 35th largest of the 39 payroll lines in New Jersey state government, under a twentieth of one percent of the state workforce.

Its nearest neighbours by headcount, for readers who want a like-for-like comparison.

• Higher Education41 employees
  median $98,503
• Casino Control Commission40 employees
  median $99,923
• Public Advocate24 employees
  median $133,961
• Catastrophic Illness in Children10 employees
  median $130,339