Louisiana District 5 Public Service Commissioner JOHN ATKINS (photo courtesy of John Atkins/Facebook)
One Louisiana seat flipped last night without any redistricting. Republican John Atkins was elected as the new District 5 Public Service Commissioner, replacing the term-limited Democrat Foster Campbell. Atkins may have been buoyed by the fact that this was the first PSC race to use the closed party primary; he beat Democrat James Edward Green 59-to-41%. Atkins notes that there’s a lot of data center activity in his district, which covers all of North Louisiana, and there could be more to come.
“There is some rumor that some others are considering locating in North Louisiana, but I’ve received no official information on that,” Atkins said.
As such, Atkins says he and other commissioners are looking at innovative ways to power these data centers without placing any burdens on other utility customers.
“Private use electric networks are being evaluated, whereby a large industrial user could bring their own power into an island-like setting where the power is directly linked to the large consumer and is not part of the grid,” Atkins explained.
Atkins says another one of his priorities is keeping utility rates affordable for consumers, and that will require innovation as well.
“The PSC is looking at some innovative contract structures, where those contract links match up with the payout schedule for the generation facilities, to try to protect the citizens of Northeast Louisiana,” Atkins noted.
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