PSC Commissioner, Dr. Craig Greene, District 2
High utility bills continue to plague residents and PSC Commissioner Dr. Craig Greene said they are looking at ways to help lower rates. He said the commission wants utility providers to become customer service-focused, more energy efficient, and look at long-term resiliency.
“The reason where we are with bills right now is because of really two things, the price of natural gas is four or five times of what it used to be, and all the hurricanes that we’ve had,” said Greene.
He said you can also ask your local PSC office to review your bill for possible errors.
Greene said even though companies like Entergy spent $4.5 billion to restore power after the hurricanes, they have to be reimbursed for that cost which falls on the ratepayer. Greene said he’s asked if the company is going to send their shareholders a billion dollars why can’t they chip in on repairs?
“And what that comes down to is risk sharing. How can the risk for doing business in Louisiana be shared beyond just the ratepayers taking the risk?” said Greene.
The price of natural gas is at record high levels and Greene said the current structure does not incentivize utility providers to lock in prices early and pass those savings along to the ratepayer.
“A lot of the ratepayers would be saving a lot of money if they’d bought futures, and locked it in for ten years, but they have no incentive to do that because whether they do that or not it still doesn’t affect their profit,” said Greene.
Greene said they are also working with lawmakers to ask the federal government to pay for restoration costs versus the consumer.
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