Do You Smell What I Smell?

Guest Opinion by Brent Woodall

​Last Wednesday, the Alabama legislature ceded control of the Alabama Public Service Commission to the largest utility the PSC is supposed to regulate - Alabama Power.  It is called Alabama Power - not Alabama Electricity - and last week demonstrated why its name is so appropriate.

​Earlier this year Alabama Power became concerned that, in the two races for seats on the Public Service Commission, voters were going to select individuals who were actually going to seek to “provide a balance between regulated companies and consumers” as the PSC's mission statement states.

This was not acceptable and could not be allowed.

Remember the recorded telephone call in which a representative of the power company attempted to coordinate the rollout of legislation an employee of Energy Alabama, in any other year the bitter enemy of Alabama Power. Nevertheless, following the release of that recording, the members of the legislature, who normally would have run screaming from such controversy, did as they were asked to do.

Shortly after that recording was heard around the state, a couple of bills were introduced, one in the House and one in the Senate; both were bad.  The House bill would have taken the ability we had to vote on commissioners at the Public Service Commission from us.  The Senate bill, SB360, unbelievably, was worse!  The House bill died and voters breathed a sigh of relief.

​Representative Mack Butler introduced HB475, a reasonable, well-written bill that would have enforced positive changes at the PSC.  Citizens from all over Alabama did everything they could to let their legislators know that they wanted that bill passed.  It passed the House with flying colors and went to the Senate.  Then spring break came.  There were only a few days remaining in this legislative session and, normally, such a controversial bill would not have seen the light of day in the legislature.

But, there was nothing normal about this year or this bill.  Montgomery insiders expected that HB475 would be merged with SB360.  When HB475 emerged from the Senate committee, however, it had been completely re-written; all of the good of HB475 was gone and the bad in SB360 was still in place but had been placed on steroids.  The bill was approved by the Senate, then rushed to the House where it sailed through faster than anyone could say “The fix is in!”

Amazingly, it was such a terrible bill that Mack Butler, its original sponsor, voted “No” on its passage, as any reasonable legislator concerned more about doing the right thing by the people of our state than doing the bidding of one entity in Alabama would have done.

After the vote, it was learned that one representative was removed from a Republican caucus held on the day of the passage of the bill due to concerns that he was recording the discussion in the caucus.  What happened to transparency?  Why would the legislators not want people to know their thoughts on such a terrible piece of legislation and why they voted in favor of it?  What was said in that meeting that they don't want you or anyone to know about?

By the way, such a meeting would clearly be a violation of Alabama's Open Meetings Act were it not for the fact that the legislature exempted themselves from that law.​  

​The bill that was passed and signed into law by Governor Ivey gave total control to Alabama Power.  The governor will now appoint four new commissioners to the PSC.  Who will advise her regarding who those four individuals will be?  Alabama Power, of course!  The same entity that advised her who to appoint when she appointed the two individuals who have done nothing but support Alabama Power while at the PSC.  Those appointed members will be put in office before the two individuals who will be elected this election year will take office.

Who will tell the governor who to appoint as the Secretary of Energy under this new law?  Alabama Power, of course!  The Secretary of Energy will now set the agendas at the PSC and will also control the hiring process there.  The requirement that open rate hearings, which haven't taken place in decades is gone.

In other words, there is no hope that the electricity rates in Alabama, the third highest in the country, will be reduced.  Alabamians are cooked.

​Too many things happened too fast regarding this bill, a bill that in any other election year would have never seen the light of day because of its controversial nature.

When you think about things that have occurred in Montgomery over the years, such as the Don Siegelman/Richard Scrushy ordeal that resulted in both men going to federal prison, the Mike Hubbard trial that ended with him spending years in state prison, and the convictions and prison sentences that arose from bribery associated with the opposition to the EPA's Superfund expansion in Jefferson County and you quickly realize that the passage of HB475 doesn't pass the smell test.

Stay alert over the next few weeks and months as these appointments are made.  See who benefits from it; it certainly won't be the citizens of the state.  It won't be the ratepayers of Alabama Power; it will be Alabama Power's friends.

The stench emanating from Montgomery is only going to grow during that time.

Brent Woodall is a candidate for the Republican nomination for Public Service Commission, Place 2. For more information on Woodall and his campaign, follow him on Facebook.

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