BREAKING: Alabama Power, Energy Alabama Phone Call Surfaces
ALPolitics.com has obtained a recording of a conversation between Energy Alabama staff and Alabama Power staff about PSC bills HB392 & SB268
Energy Alabama describes itself as “a nonprofit membership-based organization advancing Alabama’s clean energy future through education and advocacy.” Their recent social media posts have been highly critical of twin bills — HB392 and SB268 — that contain provisions that would fundamentally alter the Alabama Public Service Commission (PSC) by making its members appointed, rather than elected positions as they are now.
Recently, ALPolitics.com was contacted by a representative of Energy Alabama about a phone conversation between one of their staff and a staff member of Alabama Power.
Energy Alabama provided ALPolitics.com with an audio file purported to be a conversation between R.B. Walker (Director of State & Federal Governmental Affairs at Alabama Power Company) and John Dodd (Policy Manager at Energy Alabama).
The audio file was accompanied by a statement from Energy Alabama, which we have reproduced here exactly as received.
While ALPolitics.com cannot verify the authenticity of the recording (deep fakes are real, and detecting them requires expertise and equipment we lack), we believe it was presented to us in good faith.
The audio file, as received, is embedded in this article below the statement, along with a transcript that was generated by Otter and then lightly edited by ALPolitics.com to be as accurate as possible.
We have been told that Speaker 1 is Mr. Walker and Speaker 2 is Mr. Dodd. Other persons mentioned in the clip are, we believe, Bradley Davidson (Executive Director of Conservation Alabama) and Alabama Legislators Representative Neil Rafferty (D-Birmingham), Senator Bobby Singleton (D-Greensboro), Sen. Merika Coleman (D-Pleasant Grove) and Sen. Kirk Hatcher (D-Montgomery).
Statement from Energy Alabama:
“In late January, Energy Alabama received an unexpected call from RB Walker of Alabama Power to our Policy Manager. At the time, there were rumors in Montgomery that Alabama Power was behind proposed legislation to change the Alabama Public Service Commission from elected to appointed.
“Once we confirmed the caller’s identity, we recorded the conversation to protect our staff and organization and to ensure an accurate record of what was said. Given the unexpected nature of the call and Alabama Power’s long history of opposition to our work, we believed it was prudent to document the interaction in case the conversation was later mischaracterized, taken out of context, or if our staff was threatened.
“We shared the contents of that call privately with some legislators because it raised serious concerns, specifically, inconsistencies with Alabama Power’s non-public claims about support for the bill and its attempt to persuade Energy Alabama to back it.
“Energy Alabama is, and remains, firmly opposed to HB392 and SB268 and any effort to take away Alabamians’ right to vote for their utility regulators.”
Transcript:
Speaker 1
(A) Politicized Public Service Commission isn't good for really anybody. And I know y'all are probably going to be involved in that election and stuff like that, so we're not going to try to mess with that election. But, you know, just moving forward after that, you know, the thought was, you know, a different, a different way of getting PSE commissioners and so, so, you know, it's not something I can be anywhere near. You know, it's, I mean, well, we're fine with the way it is now. But, you know, somebody brought that up as an option. And so I took it to Neil (Rafferty), and also mentioned it to Bradley Davidson, just because he and I had had the same conversation. But you know, if that was going to work, it would need to be. So I was just, I was trying to give Neal a win, you know, I got you. And I think that Neil's thought was, you know, he would want y'all support for it, which I agree with, you know. I mean, y'all are very important to Neil and his district and stuff like that. So, you know, my thought was, let's, you know, let's, let y'all have a win. You know, it was kind of how I was thinking about it, you know. And, you know, it just kind of, you know, we all could say bad stuff about us, and we could say bad stuff about y'all in the press, but, you know, but that, you know, this might be in the best long term interest of customers, which is probably the only thing that we can agree on, you know. And just kind of leave it at that.
Speaker 2 1:19
I got you. Well, yeah, I was, I was a little curious, because I'd had it come up about a day ago. Bradley Davidson had mentioned something about it, and the way that he was mentioning is kind of sounded like it was coming, like, like it was like, facilitating the conversation, pretty much, like, Y'all asking, like, would we fight something like this? And so we didn't…
Speaker 1 1:43
No, no, this is a take it or leave it thing. This would be, if y'all it just, it looks funny to legislators if we get involved in something like that. And so, again, we're fine with the way it is now. But, you know, a legislator asked me, is this something we should…because they saw, I don't have to say his name, but, you know, we saw some crazy people qualify for the PSC,
Speaker 2
Yeah
Speaker 1
It would not necessarily, who would not, who would not be warm and cuddly with environmental groups, who would not be warm and cuddly with us. I mean, we're going to be, we're going to try to work with whoever gets over there. That's our posture, you know.
Speaker 2
Likewise
Speaker 1
If there's a, if there's a way that could we, there could be better people on the PSC that would allow us to do long range planning, even? I would be open with working with y'all on that too, John. I mean, you, I mean, I've known you for a while, and you know, I think you're an honest guy. I'll just, I'll just, I'll just lay it down.
Speaker 2 2:36
I appreciate you saying that. RB, and I think the same of you, that's why. That's why. Well, even if you, I did have caller ID on this call, I answered anyway, because I don't mind talking to you.
Speaker 1 2:47
I want to keep you from your eggs, but so. But the thing is, is that now that you know, people know about it. I mean, I was hoping that this would be an idea that came from Neil to y'all, and we would just shut up about it and just kind of, we can grumble about it behind the scenes. Y'all can. Y'all can take a victory lap and you know, but since other people know about it, it's a situation I need to get in front of. So, I mean, why don't, why don't we do this? Why don't we let, let Neil do whatever he wants to do. He told me he's gonna meet with you. He knows I'm talking to you, and he, you know, he y'all are very important to him, and so I don't want to do anything that gets Neil in any trouble. But why don't we let Neil introduce his bill, and then we let him issue a statement, and we can, we can tell, we'll tell, I'll tell my people we're opposed to the bill. You know, if that helps y'all, or I can just say, I mean, right now our posture on anything, anything having to do with the PSE, we're going to be neutral on.
Speaker 2 3:39
Yeah, well, for in terms of
Speaker 1 3:42
So, if ya’ll are looking for a legislative victory like, I think this is a whopper
Speaker 2 3:46
Absolutely. No, and I appreciate that. But, and I'm going to continue to talk to, I haven't got a chance to really talk to, like Daniel or anybody today, because he's there. They're all doing some traveling. But I do have some concerns around taking too hard of a position from us, you know, whether that's publicly or with other people in the record around a piece of legislation that deals with elections, because as a 501, as a 501(c)3
Speaker 1
Oh, I understand
Speaker 2
Yeah, I don't. I know that we can't meddle too deep into that, and so I just want to make sure that
Speaker 1 4:18
We're the same, because we're regulated by this board, so we can't (garbled) too deeply in it either. So, right, right. So I think what Neil, I think what Neil needs is just some like, Hey, we're, you know, maybe I'll say you're neutral on it too, or something like, whatever y'all need to do you need to do. I just, I'm trying to avoid a big old fight, John, you know, and recognizing that ultimately we want what's better for customers. And I think that this would be a good win for y'all to take. It would be something we could, we could tell policymakers we're open to a new regulatory regime and just kind of treat it like that. I'm happy to talk to Daniel. I'm happy to talk to whoever, and he can hear it straight from me. I won’t, I won't lift a finger on the thing
Speaker 2 5:02
Absolutely. Well, no, I appreciate that. Me and Christina are going to talk to Neil today like he, like he was telling you, and so we'll, we'll talk and hammer out some details and figure out internally to what our folks think and what they want to see in it, you know, if they want to see something like that, or if they don't, you know, I can relay that message back to you, and we can go from there and still try to find some common ground, but, but either way…
Speaker 1 5:25
Even then, it's important to know we're not talking about doing anything with this election. This election with the qualified candidates would proceed as planned under what Neil is talking about
Speaker 2
right
Speaker 1
And so, you know, I just, I just don't want, you know, people going on Twitter saying the power company is trying to, that's exactly what I was trying to avoid. I was trying to do the right thing by talking to my friend Neil. And, you know, I mentioned it to Bradley, too…
Speaker 2 5:48
Because I was, I was confused yesterday
Speaker 1 5:53
My message, my message to him was, my message to him was like, Look, if you get a call from a legislator, you know, most people are going to assume that we're opposed to that. And, you know, in the past, we might have been, John, but my message to Neil and Bradley was both, if that idea comes up, you know, we're, I'm not going to do anything on it.
Speaker 2 6:12
I got you. Okay. Well, that makes more sense hearing you say that today, because yesterday, I was like, Well, if this is coming from, you know, Alabama Power, you know, constituents or rate payers may see this and think, you know, they want to take, you know, they will, they will Montgomery to choose the regulators instead of letting us choose them, or something like that. And I was like, that would be, that'd be a PR disaster. So I don't think they'd really want that angle, you know.
Speaker 1 6:34
So we're one of, we're one of 10 states in the country that elects PSC commissioners. We want the stability. I mean, several states have done it recently where it's gone to an appointed model. (garbled) I will say that, you know, what we like about it is that there's stability in those states that have an appointed commission. You know, whatever the Commission decides to do with us, we're gonna, but I will say this, you know what? What would be? We would want it to be Senate confirmed, so that, because, you know, we're not close to Tommy Tuberville either
Speaker 2
I was about to say, the Governor is a little scary
Speaker 1 7:08
None of us have that. But if it's Senate confirmable, then that gives guys like Bobby Singleton and Marika (Coleman), Kirk Hatcher and people like that way more of a say in who the commissioners are,
Speaker 2 7:21
Absolutely, right. Okay, well, that's definitely
Speaker 1 7:27
Here’s the thing. I'm just, I'm on a deadline, because if something's going to happen on this, I just need to know about it, so that way we can, if we're going to, I would like to work with you on our messaging and your messaging on it. And you know, because I think that ultimately, this is something that we would both just be fine with, you know, I mean, again, we're fine leaving it the same. But, you know, I just, I need to know something this morning, and Neal told me y'all weren't till noon.
Speaker 2 7:54
Got you. Okay? Well, as of right now, I can't, I can't 100% give you what our stance is going to be, but I'm going to go ahead and tell you what I think it's going to be, and don't kill the messenger, I think we're going to oppose it. You know, something like this comes up just from the look of it. We're not involved with elections. I mean, we really don't care, you know, too much, if, like, If elections change, we wouldn't have, we'd have less to do like that. We've never had anything to do with elections in the first place, but from the framework of how the PSE is elected right now, you know, we don't have a problem with it, so I think that's going to be our stance.
Speaker 1
Okay, well
Speaker 2
But if that changes, if we work out something, I know your deadline is this morning. If that changes, I will still, I'll still contact you after these meetings I have today with Rafferty, because, you know, who knows what we can come up with, bringing ideas off of each other.
Speaker 1 8:46
Yeah. Well, let's just keep talking. Okay, let's, let's try to avoid a big old fight. You know?
Speaker 2 8:51
Absolutely, yeah, I don't, I don't, I don't want to. I don't want to. I don't want a big old fight. So I, I'm right there with you, man, I promise.
Speaker 1 9:00
Okay, great. Well, like, let's if anything shows up on Twitter or something like that, that's, I would consider that a fight.
Speaker 2 9:06
Absolutely, I don't, I don't control the tweets, but I will, I will
Speaker 1
I understand. I understand, yeah
Speaker 2
I got you, all right.
Speaker 1 9:13
I'm happy. I'm happy to talk to whoever in your shop, if that I mean, and I'll tell them, like, when I say, we won't lift a finger, we won't lift a finger.
Speaker 2 9:20
Okay, hey, and one last question, too, would this like, what's the precedent around Southern Company utilities doing something like this? Because Mississippi and Georgia doesn't
Speaker 1 9:30
Yeah, all of ours are elected. So I don't know how Southern Company would feel about this. Just you and me talking, I really don't care.
Speaker 2 9:37
I got you. Okay, all right.
Speaker 1 9:41
I’m, I’m paid to care about what Alabama Power customers think
Speaker 2
Right
Speaker 1 9:46
They don't consider themselves Southern Company customers
Speaker 2
Right. Okay, I was just making sure. Okay. Well, thank you, RB, I appreciate it. I'm gonna do some thinking. I'm gonna scarf down these eggs and shave and try to get down to Montgomery, and when things come up today, as, they come up. I'll try to let you know if there's anything worth sharing.
Speaker 1
Okay, let's keep talking.
Speaker 2
All right. Likewise. RB, will you have a good rest of your day and thanks for reaching out.
Speaker 1
Yeah, buddy, we'll talk.
Speaker 2
All right. Talk to you soon. Bye, bye. (garbled)
End transcript
ALPolitics.com reminds our readers that Alabama is a “one party consent” to record State. The above audio is presented without editing by ALPolitics.com, and only minimal editing was done to the app-generated transcript prior to publication.
