AARP state Director Sherri Davis-Garner says she wants a consumer advocate working in office of the Mississippi Public Service Commission.
"The Public Service Commission voted to approve $2.4 billion in upfront charges for a coal plant. ... We believe that stockholders should pay for something like that," Davis-Garner told the crowd during a community forum at Koinonia Coffee House this morning. "We're one of 11 states in America that doesn't have a consumer advocate, and there's nobody serving on the PSC in our interest. The commission needs someone to advocate for the consumer, otherwise they may not hear the consumer's needs."
Earlier this year, The PSC granted Mississippi Power Company the authority to charge rate-payers for the pre-construction cost of the $2.4 billion Kemper County plant, but AARP argues that many of their constituents, who are retired, live on fixed incomes and cannot afford a rate increase.
In making the case for a consumer advocate, Davis-Garner said despite the fact that commissioners are elected, public influence competes with lobbyists and utility-industry advocates.
"Are they elected? Yes--but so are your legislators," Davis-Garner said, adding that industry giants have an average of five lobbyists per legislator on the federal level. "Elected or not, your amount of influence over your elected official depends on who's lobbying them. If they don't hear from you, they don't know what you think."
West Virginia established a consumer advocate division on its public service commission in 1981. The division, which is independent of the state's public service commission, advocates on behalf of residential customers on gas, water, telephone and electric services, according to its website.
West Virginia Consumer Advocate Director Byron Harris said his agency can file appeals with the West Virginia Supreme Court opposing commission decisions. Harris told the Jackson Free Press today that his agency has filed fewer than 10 appeals since 1981; however, the agency has eight staffers--two administrators, including Harris, two financial advisers and three attorneys--who speak for consumers during commission deliberations.
"I would like to think that nobody wants their decision appealed," Harris said. "The system works for us."
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