Jackson Free Press

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Public Service Commissioner Leonard Bentz hasn't set a date to resign and become executive director of the South Mississippi Planning and Development District. But the Republican probably won't be a commissioner by the time the state's utility regulators meet again on Sept. 10.

"Probably so," he said when asked if Tuesday's PSC meeting was his last. "Not 100 percent, but I would say probably so."

As Bentz leaves office, he continues to defend Mississippi Power Co.'s construction of coal-fired plant in Kemper County, saying the commission has limited costs to ratepayers so far. He says he's not fleeing the disputes that surround the project or the votes commissioners face on the project over the coming year, even as completion nears.

"I own Kemper," Bentz said. "Kemper's mine. There's no running from Kemper."

The plant, including a mine and pipeline, is projected to cost $4.7 billion. Atlanta-based parent Southern Co. has agreed to pay $1 billion. Another $1 billion is supposed to be diverted into bonds that customers would repay without profit for Mississippi Power. The remaining price is supposed to be covered by a 15 percent rate increase that the commission approved earlier this year, followed by 3 percent next year.

"I think it's imperative that the new commissioner who comes into this seat sticks by the order we made Mississippi Power sign on to," Bentz said of his successor, whom Gov. Phil Bryant will get to name once Bentz does resign.

But the outgoing commissioner said he still believes, despite the rising costs, that the plant is an important protection against possible increases in natural gas prices in the future. That's even though, at today's rates, it would have been about $4 billion cheaper to build a traditional natural gas plant.

"I 100 percent support it," he said. "It's the right thing to do."

Bentz's hiring as the head of the 15-county planning district provoked questions because the district's board altered its qualifications so that it could hire someone without a college degree, which Bentz doesn't have.

"I got the opportunity thrown at me by some of the board members, who threw it at me several, several months ago," Bentz said, saying he decided to seriously pursue it about six weeks ago, in part because he wouldn't have to spend as much time in Jackson. Bentz, 41, lives in Woolmarket, just north of Biloxi.

He makes $78,000 per year representing the PSC's Southern District, and was chosen from among five finalists for the $150,000-a-year planning district job.

He said that criticism that board members changed requirements for the executive director is "not fair" and said that board members weren't trying to alter the hiring process to benefit him. "Absolutely not," Bentz said.

The move to appoint Bentz had faced scrutiny in part because his father, Leonard Bentz Sr., is secretary of the planning district's board. As part of the agreement to hire the younger Bentz, his father agreed to resign.