Consumer advocates

(a) In general (1) Reimbursement The Secretary of Energy may reimburse a State consumer advocate office or comparable (as determined by such Secretary) public counsel from the Ratepayer Justice Fund, after the issuance of direct relief payments under section 5 relating to the misconduct event, for verified investigation and litigation expenses that materially contributed to establishing the covered misconduct. (2) Certification For any reimbursement issued under paragraph (1), the Secretary of Energy shall publish a certification in the Federal Register that the verified investigation and litigation expenses materially contributed to establishing the covered misconduct. (b) Protection for ratepayers The Secretary of Energy may not pass along the costs of any reimbursement described in subsection (a) to ratepayers. (c) Technical assistance The Secretary of Energy and the Secretary of the Treasury may request technical assistance from State commissions and State consumer advocate offices or comparable public counsel in identifying eligible ratepayers, verifying customer impacts, calculating consumer injury, and administering restitution under this Act. The reasonable costs of providing such technical assistance may be reimbursed by the Secretary of the Treasury from the Ratepayer Justice Fund established by section 3, subject to the limitations of this section.