The Alabama Senate on Thursday unanimously approved its priority bill to overhaul the structure of the Alabama Public Service Commission.
Senate Bill 360, introduced Tuesday, now goes to the House, where there’s a competing bill to mandate that the PSC hold formal rate hearings. Senate and House leaders say there may be room to compromise on the two bills.
The Senate bill would expand the current three-member PSC, which regulates many of the state’s utilities, to seven members elected from the state’s congressional districts. It also creates a governor-appointed secretary of energy position to oversee the administrative duties of the commission and personnel.
The secretary would not have a vote on the board but would be in the public “spotlight,” said bill sponsor Sen. Clyde Chambliss, R-Prattville.
While the secretary can set PSC meeting agendas, five of the seven board members could override his or her decisions.
“The members of PSC have the final say,” Chambliss said.
Every senator is a co-sponsor on the bill and they discussed it for about 30 minutes Thursday morning.
Sen. Bobby Singleton, D-Greensboro, made the point on the Senate floor that the seven members would eventually be elected from the state’s seven congressional districts. Initially, Gov. Kay Ivey will appoint four of the members. And the bill does not affect this year’s PSC elections.
Singleton said Alabamians electing regional PSC members will give them “a voice that they can reach out to on the Public Service Commission, just as they would their U.S. congressmen right now.”
The bill also prohibits utility rate increases from Oct. 1, 2026, through June 1, 2029. It also bans utilities from donating to PSC candidates’ campaigns.
Chambliss said by 2029, most of the newly formed board will have been elected and he expects pressure from the public to lower rates.
Lowering energy rates is the goal of the Power to the People Act, he said on the Senate floor, citing statistics about how energy prices here have outpaced the regional and national average in the last two decades.
Senate President Pro Tem Garlan Gudger, R-Cullman, said the bill will provide stability for 100 years.
“We’re doing the right thing for the people, and I know that because when everybody’s a little mad on each side of the big utilities, and we are right down the middle, we know that we did the right thing,” Gudger said.
Energy Alabama, a nonprofit that advocates for clean energy, says this bill isn’t the way to bring down power bills. It supports the competing House Bill 475, which is pending a House vote. It requires utility rate hearings every three years and guarantees that utility companies cannot pass on lobbying expenses to ratepayers. The PSC has not held a public rate hearing in more than 40 years.
Sponsored by Rep. Mack Butler, R-Rainbow City, that bill came out of the House committee Wednesday and could get a House vote next week.
Speaker of the House Nathaniel Ledbetter, R-Rainsville, said Thursday after the House adjourned that he likes Butler’s bill and that he discussed with Butler the possibility of joining the two bills together.
Asked about that possibility, Chambliss Thursday afternoon told Alabama Daily News he’ll “consider anything that makes the bill better.”
Ledbetter emphasized the importance of lowering rates as Alabama continues to grow economically and said that lowering rates is a priority for everyone.
“I think everybody’s missing this point: Alabama is growing at a pace we’ve never seen in our lifetime because of the bills that we’ve passed and given the incentives we give,” Ledbetter said. “Alabama is one of the best places in the country to do business in. If we’re going to continue to do that, we got to have electricity. I mean, that is the driving force for the economy…”
He said he’s seen statistics that show Alabama could grow between 30 and 40% in the next ten years.
“If we do not have something in place to be able to capture that growth, we’re going to be in trouble,” he said.