by Deb Cupples | Florida's Public Service Commission is supposed to protect us consumers and keep utility companies in check -- not the other way around. Unfortunately, some members of the PSC seem awfully chummy with the very utility company folks that the PSC is supposed to regulate. The Buzz (a St. Pete Times blog) reports:
"[S]elf-described Public Service Commission investigator Steve Stewart reports that PSC Commissioner Katrina McMurrian has repeatedly raised conflict of interest questions with her attendance at both utility-sponsored events and private dinners. Both events were closed to the public and officials from the utility companies she regulates were in attendance. Take a look.
"We can't vouch for the balance of the report -- there is no obvious response from McMurrian -- but it's clear Stewart has solid documents and his timeline raises serious questions about McMurrian's judgment that the commissioner should answer."
Ms. McMurrian is one of three commissioners appointed to the five-member PSC by industry-friendly ex-governor Jeb Bush (yes, brother of our nation's industry-friendly ex-president George Bush).
In 2007, Florida Governor Charlie Crist appointed two consumer-friendly commissioners to the PSC: former state senator Nancy Argenziano and lawyer-engineer Nathan Skop.
The old, Bush-based PSC didn't seem to keen on scrutinizing how utility companies dealt with their customers. For an example, check out the paragraphs below from a 2008 Miami Herald article about what some call the Sunshine Energy scam:
"For almost five years, Florida Power & Light trumpeted green energy, saying customers could help the environment by contributing as little as $9.75 a month to buy renewable power."
"About 39,000 customers signed up. In April, the U.S. Department of Energy called the program, Sunshine Energy, one of the top 10 residential green power programs in the country.
[Commissioner Skop commented:]
"About $9 million in customers' money had gone 'into a black hole where there is no transparency. . . . Clearly this is not right....
"'No reasonable person would have contributed to this program knowing that 80 percent' of their money 'was not going to renewables.'" (Miami Herald)
In other words, the old Bush-based PSC approved the program back in 2004 -- without much oversight or scrutiny -- and the program ended up amounting to a $9+ million scam against 30,000+ Florida consumers.
It took the PSC four years (until 2008) to recognize its mistake and kill the program.
It wasn't until the consumer-friendly Crist appointees on the PSC (Argenziano and Skop) started shining a spotlight that the problem was (somewhat) resolved.
For a while, anyway, it seemed that the PSC's old Bush-appointees (a three-member majority) were at odds with Crist's two, new, consumer-friendly appointees. [See Channel 10, "Shouting and Finger Pointing on Florida's Public Service Commission"]
As I've said before, it was wise of Gov. Crist to appoint consumer-friendly PSC members like Argenziano and Skop.
One of the old Bush-appointees is coming up for re-appointment soon: Ms. McMurrian, the one now being accused of improper dealings with industry folks.
I hope that Gov. Crist will replace that commissioner with a truly consumer-friendly appointee, who can form a consumer-protecting majority with Argenziano and Skop.
Not only would this course of action benefit us Florida consumers, but it would also increase Gov. Crist's bipartisan appeal as he runs for U.S. Senate in 2010 -- as would any distancing of himself from the Jeb Bush network.
Related Buck Naked Politics Posts:
* Fla Power Company Wants Consumers to Pay for Company Errors?
* Led by Minority, Fla. Public Service Commissioners Stand up for Public
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Unfortunately Commissioner Skop has not been quite as consumer friendly, or caring as he was when he first arrived at the PSC. Check his votes and start watching him, he fights for the consumer on the small stuff now and then, but gives the big utilities the big increases they seek. He has voted for each big rate increase and even one that gave the electric company more profits then they even asked for. Yes, they gave more then their staff recommended and more then the company asked for. I guess he has learned that the big utilities own many legislators and certainly they get to pick most of the PSC Commissioners as well as get them re-appointed. Just check on how many past PSC commissioners have become employees for the utility, or are now utility lawyers or lobbyist. The PSC takes the heat for the legislators and the legislators protect their re-appointments, especially if the utilities want to keep those commissioners who seem to vote with them on the big increases.
These commissioners really think they are fooling us when they occasionally vote against the utility on some smaller item that the utility never wanted to begin with, but then vote to give them the real big bucks that are not justified. We need new commissioners, and our legislators need to hear from everyone who reads this. They need to hear you tell them to stop sending back those commissioners who are totally in the utilities corner. Let the Governor, your house Representative, your senators, the attorney general know that you want commissioners who are going on these conventions to places like Seattle, California and other places (on our tax dollars) that most of us would love to vacation at, and having inapropriate conversations and dinners with, to investigate them and NOT to re-appoint them. If you don't take the time to put the pressure on your legislators (especially your senators as they do the re-appointments) you will get the same utility loving commissioners back and how will new commissioners ever see that doing the right thing pays off? And Commissioner Skop, shame on you. We thought that when the Governor placed you there, there would be at least two commissioners who cared enough to look out for the consumer, you remember us, the little guys out here struggling to live.
Posted by: Samuel Spector | June 17, 2009 at 11:27 PM
From recent experiences, I agree that the PSC represents the utility companies, not the consumer. Behavior on their part that represents a conflict of interest should be sufficient to warrant an investigation into that behavior, and removal from the PSC of anyone with a conflict of interest. If anything, their focus should be on how the consumer can benefit, rather than how the utility can benefit and make more money.
An example of their way of thinking was a question posed to be by a PSC employee when I asked why there was no competition in communities by utility companies so that consumers could have a choice and so that costs would be more competitive instead of just rubberstamped increases and charges. In response the question I was asked was "How long have you lived in Florida?" And then when I responded, I was told that then I should know how Florida utilities operate.
It would seem to me that the PSC would be more interested in changing the status quo and making utility costs more consumer friendly than punitive and arbitrary.
Posted by: Denise Gill | August 25, 2010 at 12:37 PM