The Alliance for Affordable Energy, a nonprofit consumer advocacy group, is tearing into the Public Service Commission over its vote to reverse a statewide energy conservation program the PSC had already approved.
On Thursday the group released the following response to the PSC vote:
The energy efficiency rules were good rules. They were not aggressive, nor innovative. They didn’t need to be. There was no reason to recreate the wheel when forty-six other states and the City of New Orleans had already figured it out. Over 20 participants including large industrial users, utilities, private citizens and public nonprofits spent over three years representing thousands of man-hours and tens of thousands of dollars on this docket in good faith, and the outcome was positive.
“What happened today is a travesty and represents a government out of control,” says Casey DeMoss Roberts, executive director for the Alliance for Affordable Energy. “The Louisiana Public Service Commission took the unprecedented step of reversing itself for no other reason than they got a new commissioner. Rehearing an issue this way is a slippery slope and sends a scary signal to business interests. Who would invest big dollars in a state with an indecisive regulatory body?”
The issue was pushed to the last item on the commission’s agenda today but though close to 20 people came to the LPSC meeting to speak on behalf of energy efficiency, Commissioner Skrmetta refused to let the public speak. The lack of public comment on such a popular docket was unprecedented.
There is a significant cost to ratepayers for inaction. The net cost savings to the utility will be $14.3 million and this savings will be passed to all ratepayers. Which means after the program pays for itself it will generate $14.3 million in savings. Without the program, the utility will have to purchase $14.3 worth of electricity. For participating customers, the total is $69 million which includes the customer’s own investment.
“The decision to void the Energy Efficiency Rules passed in December is a major step backwards for Louisiana,” notes Jordan Macha, Gulf States Representative with the Sierra Club. “This money-saving measure would provide long-term benefits for everyone - ratepayers, working families, small businesses and industry alike. By employing efficiency measures, we reduce our need for new, costly construction and fully utilize the energy we have already produced.”
Commissioner Skrmetta claimed that he directed staff to look at Missouri’s energy efficiency rule but that they did not comply with his directive. The staff and consultant did complete a study on Missouri’s Rule and found it to be deficient. In a 2012 national study on energy efficiency Missouri was ranked 43rd in the US - tied with Louisiana on their energy efficiency performance. The LPSC staff and consultant followed Arkansas’ model because of its success and the states share a similar climate and utility companies.
“Because of the decision today, Louisiana ratepayers will pay an additional $80 million in higher energy bills,” said Forest Wright, regulatory policy director for the AAE. “Today’s decision shows a shocking lack of comprehension for the technical work of the Commission and a failure to conduct the most important duty of its job, which is to serve the public interest.”
MAY 21 Gambit columnist Clancy DuBos writes about the Mother's Day shooting, and how the stages of shock and blame and healing mirror those traveled by the same city following Hurricane Katrina. The city will recover, just as it did following the storm, by reaching out to help the people injured most seriously by the event, DuBos writes. It's how we heal, he says.
MAY 21 Here's a post on the Advocate (but buried on a subpage, not on the front) that reports something Louisiana Voice reported some time ago: a top DOE official lives in Los Angeles and "commutes" to Baton Rouge. The positioning of the story caused a stir on Facebook Monday, with several posters asking if the Advocate was covering someone's hiney. Sentell's stories on DOE are notoriously soft, and this one is no different: don't expect any hard questions in here.
MAY 21 Here's another post from blogger Tom Aswell about the "course choice" program. He's already reported on kids being signed up without their consent or knowledge, and has more here: For example, he tells of a six-year-old who was signed up for high school Latin. He also digs a little deeper into the sister companies of the main one operating in Louisiana; all of them seem to have complaints against them. Stinky.
MAY 21 Given the 80 percent cut in higher ed funding since he's been in office, it's clear Gov. Jindal would rather give tax cuts to out of state companies than have a functioning system, blogger Dayne Sherman argues in this post. The cuts have been such a disaster, Sherman says, that it will take 30 years to fix what's been broken. He says he believes the aim is to shut down most of the schools before Jindal leaves in 2016.
MAY 21 Blogger CB Forgotston says there are too many elections in Louisiana, and they're costing us too much money. The proof is in the pudding: turnout for most of these nonsensical pollings gets worse and worse, CB opines, even as millions of dollars that could be spent on health care or higher ed go down the tubes. The legislature must take action to stem the tide of pointless elections, he says.
MAY 21 Here's an interesting investigative piece by WVUE on the retirement benefits of some Jefferson Parish public employees. According to the story, the taxpayers are paying 100 percent of the retirement contributions of employees who started work prior to a certain date in April 1986 -- and have done for more than 30 years. It costs the parish millions annually, and might not be legal, the story reports.
MAY 21 This post on Bayou Buzz provides insight from Louisiana's intrepid pollster, Bernie Pinsonat, on the winners and losers from this year's legislative session. But to hear Bernie tell it, there's almost nuttin but losers: Jindal, the Republican party, the Fiscal Hawks all get big goose eggs in his win column.
MAY 20 This post on The Lens takes a look at a huge (either $500K or $250K) bill that one NOLA charter now has for school lunches. The RSD says the charter group didn't fill out the proper paperwork for federal reimbursement, but the story details how the RSD didn't ensure the people running the charter had the proper training, despite requests from hapless charter employees trying to fill out forms. Either way, somebody's asleep at the wheel.
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