PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION CANDIDATES TALK ISSUES AT SHREVEPORT FORUM

Contact Bill Robertson, 318-861-1932 or wgrobertson@gmail.com
 
No utility money for their campaigns. Reconsideration of rooftop solar.
 
These were areas of broad agreement among the four men competing for a seat on the utility-regulating Louisiana Public Service Commission at a Broadmoor Neighborhood Association forum in Shreveport Tuesday.
 
Forum topics included nuclear and solar power, deregulation of electricity, data centers, political independence and related issues.
 
The candidates range in age from 19 (Republican Aiden C. Joyner of West Monroe) to 67 (Democrat James E. Green of Shreveport). They will compete in closed party primaries May 16.
 
The victors in these party elections will appear on the November 3 General Election ballot.
 
Incumbent LPSC member Foster Campbell, Democrat of Bossier City, has held the 24-parish North Louisiana District 5 seat on the LPSC since 2003. Term limits will prompt his retirement at the end of 2026.
 
The LPSC regulates utility companies providing electricity, natural gas, water, sewer and telecommunications services in Louisiana. Since the utilities are monopolies within their territories, the LPSC sets their rates and terms of service.
 
Commissioners meet once a month, usually in Baton Rouge. They are elected to six-year terms.
 
Previous members of the LPSC include Huey P. Long, Jimmie Davis, John J. McKeithen and Kathleen Blanco. All served as governor of Louisiana following their commission service.
 
BNA live-streamed the Tuesday forum on its Facebook page. The program will be available for 30 days.
 
The four candidates are:
 

• John E. Atkins, age 61, Republican of Shreveport. Atkins runs Atco Investments, a family-owned oil and timber company. He is in his third and final term on the Caddo Parish Commission.

• James E. Green, 67, Democrat of Shreveport. Green is pastor of Union Mission Baptist Church of Shreveport. He is in his fourth and final term as a member of the Shreveport City Council.

• Aiden C. Joyner, 19, Republican of West Monroe. Joyner is a student of political science at the University of Louisiana Monroe.
  

• Austin Lawson, 24, Democrat of Bossier City. Lawson is employed in the service industry and aligned with the Democratic Socialists of America.

 
DATA CENTERS
 
The LPSC has cut corners to speed the development of electrical infrastructure serving data centers and made scant reference to their consumption of water. With much of this new development occurring in economically deprived North Louisiana, Campbell has declared himself “1,000 percent” in favor, and voted accordingly.
 
All four candidates Tuesday said regulators should ensure that data centers are, as Joyner said, “held to their promises.” Green voted at the City Council in favor of the first of three proposed data centers in the Shreveport area. He said he would “hold their feet to the fire.”
 
Lawson pushed back. “There is very little regulation of data centers to protect the community,” he said. “They strain our electricity and water resources.”
 
Atkins said the LPSC should ensure data centers are “done responsibly, with the environment protected and water used reasonably.”
 
NUCLEAR POWER
 
Entergy, Louisiana’s largest electric company, operates two nuclear plants in Louisiana and a third across the Mississippi River from Newellton, Louisiana, at Port Gibson, Mississippi. The plants are all 40 years old or older and nearing retirement. Entergy, with support from the current LPSC, hopes to use federal subsidies to build new nuclear plants and/or refurbish its old ones.
 
BNA asked if the LPSC should allow Louisiana utilities to bill ratepayers for nuclear costs. Atkins said he was “not opposed, as long as the power is reliable and cost-effective.” Joyner said he was also open to using ratepayer dollars.
Democrats Lawson and Green said they would insist that electric utilities foot the bill for nuclear investments. “Let the companies pay,” Lawson said.
 
ROOFTOP SOLAR
 
Louisiana electric utilities favor a low value for power generated from rooftop solar to discourage its adoption by Louisiana residents. Recent LPSC votes to improve the economics of home solar failed by 3-2 votes, with Campbell favoring solar users.
 
All four candidates said they support revisiting the issue. Lawson said solar is a “win-win” for homeowners and utilities because it lowers residential electric bills and funnels excess power back to the grid. Joyner said solar can introduce competition into the electric business and help residents gain independence from utilities.
 
Atkins said, “I would be willing to reconsider the issue as long as the decision was based on economics and engineering.”
 
DEREGULATION OF ELECTRICITY
 
Audience members asked why Louisiana does not allow consumers to choose their own electric utility, as in Texas and other states. The current LPSC has avoided the discussion, going so far as to cancel a study of partial deregulation advocated by large industrial customers that want to make their own deals for power.
 
Atkins expressed caution. “I am open to exploring any arrangements that give us low-cost, reliable power,” he said. “But like in medicine, ‘First, do no harm.’”
 
Joyner favored free markets. “There should be competition,” he said. “It’s not right for utilities to be monopolies.”
 
Allowing industry freedom to strike its own power deals, Joyner said, “can reduce stress on the grid.”
 
Lawson and Green said utilities use their influence over politicians to fight competition and maintain their monopolies.
 
POLITICAL INDEPENDENCE
 
BNA said the complex work of the LPSC is followed closely by utility companies but few others, and utilities dominate the financing of campaigns for seats on the commission. All four candidates said they would advocate a law to prohibit candidates for the LPSC from taking money from regulated companies.
 
“I will never take a dime from utility companies,” Joyner said. “It’s a conflict of interest.”
 
Lawson said, “When people give you money, you owe them something. I’m not interested in  taking their money.”
 
Said Green: “Let nothing or nobody interrupt my integrity.”
 
Atkins acknowledged returning early contributions to his LPSC campaign from SWEPCO and a water utility. “It is best to keep an arm’s length relationship with the utilities,” he said. “But these are smart people. You have to interact with them.”
 
DISCONNECTION
 
LPSC members often say Louisiana has some of the lowest electric rates in the country. While that is true, what they don’t say is that, due to our heat, humidity and poor housing stock, Louisiana has some of the nation’s highest electric bills. Factor in high poverty and that means Louisiana is considered an “energy-insecure” state.
 
The candidates were asked what they would say if a constituent on SWEPCO called at 8 p.m. on a summer night, with temperatures in the 90s, to seek reconnection after being shut off for non-payment.
 
“I’ll fight for a moratorium on disconnections,” Lawson said. People without electricity during extreme weather can die, he said.
 
Atkins said, “I would demand the electric company continue power until we can get through this crisis.” Over the long term, he said, the constituent should be connected to bill-assistance organizations to help them “get their affairs in order.”
 
THE NEXT FORUM
 
The LPSC candidates are scheduled to appear on KTBS-TV Channel 3 at 8:30 a.m. on Sunday, May 3.