C. Gas utilities subject to the jurisdiction of the commission solely with respect to safety are not subject to any assessment.

D. The commission may correct any errors in the assessments by means of a credit or debit to the following year's assessment rather than reassessing all utilities in the current year.

E. The commission may exempt utilities with annual intrastate gross operating revenues under $50,000 from assessments under this section.

Sec. 2. 35-A MRSA §116, sub-§8, as amended by PL 2003, c. 272, §2 and c. 505, §12, is further amended to read:

8. Public Advocate assessment. Every utility subject to assessment under this section is subject to an additional annual assessment on its intrastate gross operating revenues to produce sufficient revenue for expenditures allocated by the Legislature for operating the Office of Public Advocate. This additional assessment is calculated in the same manner as assessments made by the commission pursuant to subsection 1. The revenues produced from this assessment are transferred to the Public Advocate Regulatory Fund and may only be used to fulfill the duties specified in chapter 17. The assessments charged to utilities under this subsection are considered just and reasonable operating costs for rate-making purposes. The Public Advocate shall develop a method of accounting for staff time within the Office of Public Advocate. All professional and support staff shall account for their time in such a way as to identify the percentage of time devoted to public utility regulation and the percentage of time devoted to other duties that may be required by law.

A. The Public Advocate shall submit its budget recommendations as part of the unified current services budget legislation in accordance with Title 5, sections 1663 to 1665. The assessments and expenditures provided in this section are subject to legislative approval. The Public Advocate shall make an annual report of its planned expenditures for the year and on its use of funds in the previous year. The Public Advocate may also receive other funds as appropriated by the Legislature.

B. The Public Advocate may use the revenues provided in accordance with this section to fund the Public Advocate and