STEPHANIE HILFERTY (photo courtesy of Stephanie Hilferty/Facebook)
Come January, Stephanie Hilferty will be the new public service commissioner out of District 1, which encompasses much of Southeast Louisiana. The Metairie Republican beat Democrat Connie Norris and No Party candidate Chris Justin in last Tuesday’s general election to win a spot on the five-member commission. Hilferty, who had been a state representative, says voters told her one of their biggest issues is their water service.
“They want to understand what is going on with the billing part, but the financial part as well as the engineering side. Some of the systems have some pretty chronic issues with the quality of the water and the service side,” Hilferty said.
Hilferty says the other big issue she heard from voters, just like everywhere else in the state, was the rapid growth of data centers and their effect on utility reliability and utility rates.
“These data centers are, in many cases, going on to our statewide grid, and they become part of that grid. And we, as the ratepayers, are a part of that; and so, what does that look like long-term?” Hilfterty asked.
Hilferty says one of her main priorities once she enters office is to update electrical reliability standards, which she says are long overdue to be updated.
“We have not updated our reliability standards that we hold the electrical utility companies for since 1998,” Hilferty noted.
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