The Commission has seven members who serve six-year terms. Appointments are made by the Governor, subject to confirmation by the General Assembly. The Governor also designates a Chairman to serve a four-year term. The Chairman serves as the chief executive and administrative officer of the Commission and as a member of the Agency for Public Telecommunications Board and the Geographic Information Coordinating Council. The standards of judicial conduct provided for judges in Article 30 of Chapter 7A of the General Statutes apply to members of the Commission. Members of the Commission are prohibited by law from engaging in any other employment, business, profession, or vocation while in office.

The Commission is composed of four divisions, Legal & Administration, Operations, Clerk & IT Services, and Fiscal Management and it employs about 71 staff members.

The Public Staff of the Commission is a separate agency that appears before the Commission and represents the interests of the using and consuming public. The Public Staff is not subject to the supervision, direction, or control of the Commission. The Executive Director of the Public Staff is appointed by the Governor, subject to confirmation by the General Assembly, for a term of six years.

The Commission is, by law, an administrative board or agency of the General Assembly created for the principal purpose of carrying out the administration and enforcement of the Public Utilities Act. The Commission is accountable to the General Assembly and is subject to legislative oversight by the Joint Legislative Utility Review Committee. The Commission is authorized to promulgate rules and regulations and to fix utility rates pursuant to Chapter 62. For the purpose of conducting hearings, making decisions, issuing orders, and informal investigations where a record is made of testimony under oath, the Commission functions in a judicial manner and has all the powers and jurisdiction of a court of general jurisdiction as to all subjects over which it has jurisdiction by law.

The Commission is required by law to make and publish annual reports to the Governor regarding its activities, including copies of general orders and regulations, comparative statistical data on the operation of various public utilities in the state, comparisons of rates in North Carolina with rates elsewhere, a review of significant developments in the fields of law, economics and planning, a report of pending matters before the Commission, and a digest of the principal decisions of the Commission and the North Carolina courts affecting public utilities. The Commission is also required to publish in a separate volume each year its final decisions made on the merits in formal proceedings before the Commission, including significant procedural orders and decisions.

The Commissioners and members of the Commission staff designated and assigned to serve as Hearing Examiners have full power to administer oaths and to hear and take evidence. The Commission renders its decisions upon questions of law and fact in the same manner as a court of record. A majority of the Commissioners constitutes a quorum, and any order or decision of a majority of Commissioners constitutes the order or decision of the Commission. The Commission has the same power to compel the attendance of witnesses, require the examination of persons and parties, compel the production of books and papers, and punish for contempt, as by law is conferred upon the superior courts.

The Commission and its staff are prohibited by law from engaging in ex parte communications with parties to contested cases pertaining to the merits of the proceedings.

The full seven-member Commission may be designated by the Chairman to hear cases involving matters of significant policy and/or substantial importance. Often, however, the Commissioners sit in panels of three. For the purpose of conducting hearings, the Chairman assigns Hearing Commissioners or Hearing Examiners and designates the presiding officer. During calendar year 2016, there were a total of 3,321 formal proceedings instituted before the Commission and a total of 112 hearings in contested cases. The Commission's Chief Clerk's office received 14,299 filings and issued 3,659 orders in 2016. When acting as a court of record, the Commission applies the rules of evidence applicable in civil actions in the superior court, insofar as practicable. Decisions must be supported by competent material and substantial evidence upon consideration of the whole record. Final orders or decisions of Utilities Commission in general rate cases may be appealed directly to the North Carolina Supreme Court. All other appeals must first proceed to the North Carolina Court of Appeals.

The Commission publishes weekly and monthly calendars of its proceedings designed to provide public notice of all hearings and public meetings being conducted. These hearings and meetings are open to the public.

The Commission's authority to regulate public utilities throughout the State is set forth in Chapter 62 of the North Carolina General Statutes, the Public Utilities Act. This Act is a comprehensive body of law that sets out in great detail the jurisdiction of the Commission over public utilities and the procedures the Commission must follow in regulating these utilities with respect to rates and services.

The law defining the Commission's responsibilities is specific in that utility companies must be fairly remunerated for services rendered. However, the law provides latitude for the Commission to go beyond rate setting and requiring adequate service into such matters as establishing a plan for the construction of new generation facilities, reviewing management efficiencies, requiring least cost planning by electric utilities, etc.

The purpose of regulation of public utilities is to protect the interest of the public that adequate service is provided at reasonable rates. In setting utility rates, the Commission must be fair and reasonable to both public utilities and their customers.

With respect to the fixing of rates for public utilities, the Commission is required by law to conduct hearings in general rate cases and other rate making proceedings which may be lengthy and complex and last several weeks. Participation in these hearings includes the utility, the Public Staff, and the Attorney General, as well as other parties who have an interest in being assured that the rates and charges of the utility are just and reasonable. General rate cases may be heard by the full Commission of seven members or by a panel of three Commissioners. The hearings are held in Raleigh and are also held throughout the state in the service areas of the utilities to give customers an opportunity to testify.

The Commission frequently appears before federal and state courts and agencies, particularly the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in natural gas matters and state superior courts in water/wastewater matters, to secure just and reasonable rates and service for the users of public utility service in this state.