Senate Committee Fails To Act On Consumer Advocate

By: State: Mississippi | Source: AARP.org

Mississippi state legislators did not have an opportunity to vote on Senate Bill 2790 because the Senate Public Utilities Committee did not vote on the measure. The bill would have established a Utilities Consumer Advocate Division.

AARP supported establishing a Utilities Consumer Advocate Division within the Attorney General's Office or through the creation of a separate independent Utilities Consumer Advocate Office.

"Mississippi consumers are disappointed the Senate Public Utilities Committee didn't vote on SB 2790 and allow other legislators an opportunity to vote on the bill on behalf of their constituents," said AARP Mississippi State Director Sherri Davis-Garner. "AARP members and the public clearly supported this legislation."

Mississippi's utility consumers want someone to represent them in rate increase decisions before the state Public Service Commission, according to an AARP survey of people who live in Entergy Mississippi and Mississippi Power Company service territories. According to the survey, conducted in November, 86 percent of respondents strongly support a law that would establish a consumer advocate office to represent and protect residential customers.

AARP also supported legislation that directs the Public Service Commission to require a full refund to utility customers for all costs related to planning, pre-construction, and construction of new generating plants, if plant construction is suspended or abandoned. This would have reversed last year's passage of Senate Bill 2793 that requires utility company ratepayers, not stockholders, to pay these expenses.

"Mississippians want utility companies to be accountable to ratepayers," said AARP Mississippi State President Bruce Brice. "Rising utility costs have a direct affect on financial security."

Before the Mississippi legislature changed the law in 2008, utilities had the responsibility of borrowing money from banks to build new power generating plants. Customers did not start paying for new construction until power was provided to them from the new plant.

A new law, Senate Bill 2793 passed in 2008, allows electric companies to charge customers upfront for all planning, pre-construction, and construction costs of new power plants. Eighty-four (84) percent of respondents strongly support returning to the old law whereby customers did not pay for power plants until they were completed and providing service.

"Utility rate increases have a direct impact on the financial security of Mississippians," Davis-Garner said. "AARP has received more than a thousand responses from Mississippians who want a utility consumer advocate to speak up for them."

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