Energy bill clears Senate in 2 days, restructures utility regulators

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WBRC) - The “Power to the People Act” raced through the Senate, passing unanimously two days after it was filed. SB360 now heads to the House.

The legislation doesn’t address immediate cost savings or how the Alabama Public Service Commission (APSC) regulates monopoly utility rates. Instead, it changes the governance by expanding the APSC from three at-large members to seven members who are elected regionally. Notably, it creates a Secretary of Energy who would run the APSC. This position would be an appointed member of the governor’s cabinet.

The entire Senate signed onto this legislation. The primary bill sponsor, Sen. Clyde Chambliss, says this bill was filed in response to rising energy bills.

“The people are fed up with paying high power rates,” Chambliss said. “If we were still 13th in the nation and we were increasing at the same rate that everybody else was, I don’t think we would be here today. But we have increased from 13th to 28th in the nation. So, we’re increasing in power rates way faster than everybody else. That’s the problem.”

SB360 is one of several bills filed after a WBRC investigation revealed Alabamians pay some of the highest bills in the country.

Senate Pro Tempore Garlan Gudger says this bill will save the public money by prohibiting Alabama Power from passing along lobbying costs, grant writing and almost all advertising costs to ratepayers. Those prohibitions are currently in place.

“We’ve taken that out of the bill, our bill should reduce rates immediately,” Gudger told reporters after Thursday’s vote.

When pressed on whether he believed these prohibited costs were being collected, Gudger responded, “I don’t think they are, but at the same point, we wanted to make sure there’s one bill where everybody could go to.”

As the bill goes to the House, Senate leadership said they could be open to amendments from the lower chamber. As for adding a provision to force the APSC to change the way it regulates Alabama Power through a rate case, Gudger is less clear.

“So it depends on how often it is and if it really reduces rates or if they’re just wanting the control of it,” Gudger responded. “That’s one of the reasons we didn’t do it in ours. We really want to reduce the utility rates now and we know we did that in our bill.”

Governance Changes

The bill would onboard the four new members as early as July 2026 through a complex appointment-to-election process.

Two of the appointed commissioners would serve two‑year terms and two others would serve four‑year appointed terms before the position would come up for election. The governor would be required to select appointees from a list of three names submitted by the lieutenant governor, House speaker and Senate pro tempore for each position.

According to the fiscal note on the bill, it would cost the state around $2 million dollars a year to add four commissioners.

Timeline

• 2026 election: Currently scheduled for Places 1 and 2
• 2028 election: Three commissioners elected.
  • One commissioner would replace member previously elected as APSC President.
  • Two commissioners would be elected to replace those serving two-year terms, one would represent the Seventh Congressional District.
  • The members would elect a president and vice president beginning in 2028.
• 2030 election: Two commissioners would be elected to replace those serving four-year appointed terms, one would represent Second Congressional District.
• 2031: Full seven-member commission in place

Energy costs have been a key topic in the 2026 legislative session. HB475, which proposes rate cases and caps profit for Alabama Power passed out of House committee Wednesday. The bill sponsor, Rep. Mack Butler (R), Rainbow City, says HB475 will likely be up for a House vote next week.

“I feel strongly that any bill addressing the PSC must include provisions that require Alabama Power to open its books, bring its profits in line with comparable utilities across the southeast, and provide families and consumers with the financial relief from sky high power bills,” Butler said in a written statement Thursday.

Butler is open to streamlining both bills under the right conditions.

“Reorganizing the PSC is meaningless unless it is required to hold regular rate case hearings that haven’t taken place since the days when George Wallace was elected governor, Butler explained.”

Energy Alabama, a clean energy nonprofit, was disappointed to see SB360 bill moved out of the Senate without provisions to lower monthly power bills.

“Alabamians are looking for legislation that will meaningfully reduce their utility bills as fast as possible,” stated Daniel Tait, Executive Director of Energy Alabama. “The House has not yet voted on SB360, and there is still time to get this right.”

Other energy-related legislation includes HB392, which proposed transitioning the ASPC from elected to appointed members, which was ultimately killed by the Senate. The bill drew scrutiny after a WBRC obtained and released a recording of an Alabama Power lobbyist discussing the legislation.

These bills were introduced as federal documents showed Alabama Power’s net profit rose $113 million in 2025.

You can read more of our investigation, Price of Power, here.

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