MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The House Committee on Transportation, Utilities and Infrastructure is holding a public hearing today about a bill that would make sweeping reforms to the body that regulates some of Alabama’s utility prices.
Introduced by Rep. Chip Brown, R-Hollingers Island, and Senate Minority Leader Bobby Singleton, D-Greensboro, House Bill 392 and companion Senate Bill 268 would change how members are selected for the three-person Alabama Public Service Commission. Board members are currently elected by the public, but under the bill the Governor, Speaker of the House and Senate President Pro Tem would each have one appointment.
A press release from Singleton about HB392 said it “depoliticizes the Public Service Commission and shields power bills from campaign donors.”
Alabama is one of 10 states that still has an elected public service board.
“This legislation restores trust in utility oversight and ensures Alabama residents are protected from political or outside influence at a time when energy is more important and complex than it has ever been,” Brown said in Singleton’s release.
The sponsors have championed this potential change as a way of increasing oversight on utility prices, but opponents say the move to an appointment model would further disconnect the board from everyday Alabamians’ interests.
Energy Alabama, a nonprofit organization that advocates for advancing renewable energy in the state, is vehemently opposed to the bill, calling it the “Alabama Power Grab.”
“Moving the PSC to an appointment system does not reduce politics,” the organization said in a press release. “It moves regulation into the part of the political system where utility money has more room to run.”
Critics of Energy Alabama have questioned its funding sources and opposed its influence in the state.
In an editorial published in ADN, House Republicans said the utility legislation proposed is a “conservative response to rising prices and growing pressure from Big Tech and radical, out-of-state environmental groups that see Alabama not as a home to families and workers, but as a battlefield for their national agenda.”
Utility organizations like Alabama Power and Spire are forbidden from donating to PSC candidates but not candidates for governor or legislative seats.
The bill would also require the PSC to make sure that Alabamians’ rate payments for utility services do not go toward lobbying or other political activities.
It was introduced by a bipartisan coalition from both chambers last week as part of a three-bill package called the Alabama Affordability Protection Plan. The sponsors said the package is designed to protect Alabamians from rising utility costs and “undue political influence.”
The package targets the PSC as well as large data centers, which are popping up across the country because of artificial intelligence’s data processing needs. Alabama already has over 20 data centers, and many fear building more will lead to higher utility costs for those living in those areas if action is not taken.
The other two bills in the package would reform tax incentives for data centers and require those centers to pay for any grid or infrastructure upgrades needed to support their large electricity pull as well as ensure that existing utilities customers do not pay more because of private development.
The committee meeting is set to start at 11 a.m. in Room 617 in the State House. The other bills in the package – House Bill 403 and House Bill 399 will also be considered by the committee.