House pulls bill off calendar that would strip voters of right to elect utility regulators

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) - A bill that would strip voters of the right to elect the Alabama Public Service Commission hit a snag on Thursday. HB392 was on a House special order calendar for a vote that was expected to pass the chamber, but was pulled shortly before the House convened.

“We didn’t know for sure in the Senate we could get it out,” explained House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter, noting the House had the votes. “They’ve got a lot of movement going on and a lot of things happening. I think they weren’t ready to get the bill.”

House sponsor, Rep. Chip Brown says there’s an effort to make this “friendlier to average Alabamians”.

“Legislation is fluid, very rarely does the legislation that you file finish up in the original form at the end,” Brown explained. “As a reform package, There’s always things that you can put into a bill to make it stronger.

The legislation shifts the APSC from an elected to appointed body, the appointments would rest with the governor. An amendment passed Tuesday would give both chambers some say in who is appointed for two of the three seats. If passed, the legislation wouldn’t impact the APSC election in November for the two associate members, the first appointment would be in 2028 when the term ends for APSC president.

Tuesday, it passed out of committee with a 10-4 vote, mostly down party lines with one Republican, Brett Easterbrook, voting against the legislation. The vote comes after a WBRC investigation revealed Alabamians pay some of the highest power bills in the country.

“Alabama is one of only ten states that we actually elect our Public Service Commission,” bill sponsor Chip Brown explained. “Some of the speakers [Tuesday], the thing that we heard from all of them, is that they think our rates are too high. I think that if we move towards an appointed Public Service Commission, we have an opportunity to reset things and at least have an opportunity to try to get our rates lower.”

The timing of this legislation is key. The bill dropped less than two weeks after 10 people qualified to run for two APSC seats in November. Energy Alabama, a nonprofit who advocates for lower energy rates say Alabama Power is the driving force behind the legislation. Daniel Tait, Energy Alabama’s Executive Director, says a lobbyist for Alabama Power reached out to his organization to gain their support on the bill. Alabama Power hasn’t responded to WBRC’s multiple attempts for response on this matter.

The bill didn’t advance out of committee without fireworks. The majority of people who spoke at the public hearing were against the bill, including Tait with Energy Alabama. In a rare move, House Republicans peppered Tait about who funds his organization and Energy Alabama’s board in what appeared to be an orchestrated attempt to corner him on various issues.

“I’ve never been in a committee hearing where we’ve had more questions for a speaker than the actual bill sponsor,” said Rep. Napoleon Bracy, D. “…I’m not going to grill you about your two minutes that you came to talk to us about with anything I’ve heard in the background. I don’t think it’s fair to you.”

During Tait’s allocated two minutes for public comment he shared concerns this bill would open the door for Alabama Power to lock in more profits.

“Under current law utilities like Alabama Power are explicitly prohibited from donating to or endorsing candidates for the PSC, that prohibition exists for a reason because the regulated should not be choosing the regulators but this bill creates a loophole in that very protection,” Tait explained, noting Alabama Power with this bill could donate unlimited sums of money to the people would control the makeup of the PSC.

“There’s been a lot of controversy about your organization, a lot of questions about your organization,” Rep. Margie Wilcox said to Tait at the end of the public hearing, asking the committee chair if Tait could answer questions.

“We do not receive funding from George Soros or any of the crazy groups you’re talking about,” Tait responded, debunking articles written about his organization in blogs. “We are advocates for clean energy, we are advocates for affordable energy. This is all a distraction because people don’t want to talk about Alabama Power’s profits, they want to talk about us.”

Wilcox said she’d worked with the APSC for decades, asking why she’s never heard of him.

“We’ve been doing a lot of work, not just here for Alabama Power and Public Service Commission but with the TVA and utilities in North Alabama who are taking very stringent steps to improve rates and affordability for customers,” Tait responded. “TVA’s rates are 40% lower than Alabama Power’s, that’s in the same state.”

Rep. Donna Givens, R, grilled Tait about why he publicly supported the governor’s recent appointment of APSC President Cynthia Almond to replace outgoing President Twinkle Cavanaugh but doesn’t support this bill.

“Now you’re telling us the gubernatorial appointment of the PSC is not the way to go, what changed,” Givens questioned.

Tait said those things aren’t mutually exclusive, noting under current law it is the governor’s job to appoint qualified members to the APSC after a member leaves or passes away during their term, who would then face the voters in an election.

Givens went on to ask about members of Energy Alabama’s board, noting a board member from Arkansas who is appointed to a utility board.

“I don’t think someone has to win an election to serve on our board of directors,” Tait quipped.

“Is your opposition to appointments just opposition to appointments for you to control,” Givens later fired back.

“We don’t control anything ma’am,” Tait responded. “Y’all would be the ones to control appointments or the voters would if people vote. We are advocates for clean and affordable energy and that’s it.”

“You’re wanting it to be the people vote on it and you have a board member that takes contributions from these other organizations,” Givens said.

“I don’t know about these other organizations,” Tait stated. “That’s completely irrelevant to the matter at hand. Again this is a questioning of Daniel Tait mainly because Alabama Power wants that to be the case. They want y’all to talk about measly old Energy Alabama and measly old Daniel Tait. What’s the real issue, the real issue is our rates are out of control.”

Givens noted the rates are so high because of the elected APSC. Tait said he doesn’t believe the PSC has held the regulatory balance between the ratepayers and Alabama Power.

“That does not mean that I also think it is worthwhile to strip people of that right to vote.”

Brown says this bill would add transparency, forcing each utility to have one public meeting a year to discuss rates and answer questions, which is already happening with Alabama Power.

“In there is some real ethics reform, too, in that it prevents commissioners, the Public Service Commissioners and their families from being employed by a regulated utility or taking anything of value from a regulated utility,” Brown added. “And then, also, from owning stock in any regulated company. I think that will put people’s feet in the fire and make them more responsive to the consumers of Alabama.”

The legislation stops short of prohibiting utilities from donating to the campaigns of those who would appoint the APSC.

The House version of the bill is expected to be in a Senate committee next week.

Get news alerts in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store or subscribe to our email newsletter here.