The Public Service Commission is looking for ways to help bring down electricity costs for Louisiana residents.
Public Service Commissioner Craig Greene (R-Baton Rouge) told WWL's Tommy Tucker that the commission is seeking ways to improve energy efficiency in the state and that the commission will examine the health of the state's power grid.
"What the Public Service Commission is doing is evalutating what could we do differently so that when the next force majeur occurs, how can it have the least impact on our rate payers," Greene said about the PSC's efforts.
Greene noted three specific areas in which the PSC could take action. The first is a full inspection of the state's electrical grid.
"We've never had engineers look at our entire grid and say, 'What can we be doing differently longterm so that these things don't happen?'" Greene said, referring to the destruction of electrical infrastructure during a hurricane or other natural disaster. "What the Public Service Commission is doing is evalutating what could we do differently so that when the next force majeur occurs, how can it have the least impact on our rate payers."
Greene also says the PSC is working to promote energy efficiency among power companies and their customers.
"If we could use less electricity, your bills would be going down," Greene noted.
Finally, but certainly not least, Greene says the PSC will work to find ways to require utility companies to put their customers' interests ahead of those of shareholders.
"What options could there be in the future that put the customer at the center and the forefront as opposed to the shareholder and the business models and whatnot?" Greene asked.
One of those options, according to Greene, could be regulating utility companies to require them to put a "skin in the game."
"How can the risk for doing business in Louisiana be shared beyond just the rate payers taking the risk?" Greene asked.
One way, Greene suggests, is requiring Entergy and other companies to hedge their investments. This, he says, would have prevented electricity rates from skyrocketing this summer.
"A lot of the rate payers would be saving a lot of money if they would have bought futures--the future price of gas and locked it in for 10 years just for a certain portion of their portfolio," Greene said.
However, Greene concedes getting companies to hedge their investments without mandating it is a tough task.
"They have no incentive to do that because, whether they do that or not, it doesn't affect their profits."