Gov. Kay Ivey makes four appointments to the Alabama Public Service Commission

Gov. Kay Ivey Wednesday appointed four people to the Alabama Public Service Commission, under a law passed in the spring that significantly expanded membership of the utility regulator.

The appointments, coming one day after GOP voters rejected the second of two sitting PSC incumbents, include Lt. Gen. Ron Burgess (ret.);  Fred Johnson, former CEO of Farmers Telecommunications; Demarcus Joiner, an attorney with Maynard Nexen in Birmingham  and Alabama State University President Quinton T. Ross Jr.

“For Alabama to remain the best state in which to live, work and raise a family, we need good people serving in public office, including on our Public Service Commission. I am proud to tap these four experienced leaders to serve their fellow Alabamians in this capacity,” Ivey said in her statement. “I expect these individuals to serve with honesty and integrity.”

Messages seeking comment were left with the commissioners on Wednesday. Joiner said in a statement Wednesday he looked forward to working on the commission “with a laser focus on affordability, transparency, fairness, and responsiveness to consumers.”

The Legislature voted to expand the commission during the legislative session this spring amid mounting anger over the state’s high residential power bills. According to the Energy Information Commission, Alabama residents pay an average of 17.15 cents per kilowatt-hour, among the highest in the South and higher than Mississippi (16.30 cents per kilowatt-hour), Tennessee (15.08), Georgia (15.01) and Florida (14.86).

During the session, the House of Representatives passed HB 475, which would have required the Public Service Commission to hold a rate case hearing at least once every three years. The PSC since 1982 has used a method called rate stabilization and equalization (RSE) which guarantees utilities a profit. Critics say the method makes the reasons for rate increases opaque. A formal rate hearing would require a utility to justify rate increases through sworn testimony and evidence.

The Senate, however, gutted the bill, removing the rate case requirement, expanding the commission to seven members, effectively neutralizing the results of this year’s PSC elections and putting the entire board under a secretary of energy, to be appointed by the next governor.

The law bans rate case hearings on utilities like Alabama Power until 2029, and after that date only allows them with the approval of an energy secretary or the approval of five of seven members of the commission.

John Dodd, policy manager for Energy Alabama, an organization that advocates for more renewable energy in the state, congratulated the people appointed.

“It is worth remembering why these jobs exist in the first place, and that is because Alabama families spoke up about paying some of the highest electric bills in the south, and the public pressure is what built this expanded commission,” he said in an interview Wednesday.

GOP voters over the last month have voted to replace two of the three current members of the PSC. Cullman County Sheriff Matt Gentry defeated incumbent Jeremy Oden for the Republican nomination for PSC Place 1 on May 19. On Tuesday, former Alabama State Auditor Jim Zeigler narrowly won a GOP runoff election against Chris Beeker III for the Place 2 position.

Under the new law, Republican and Democratic leadership in the Alabama Legislature submitted proposed names for the seats. Ross, a former state senator, was on the Democrats’ list, as was Joiner. The Democrats also nominated James Gordon and Sheila McNeil, who are running against Gentry and Zeigler, respectively, for the PSC.

Burgess and Johnson were on the Republicans’ list.