by Deb Cupples | Two Public Service Commission (PSC) members will not be returning to the PSC come January 2010. A St. Pete Times blog reports:
"In a move designed to reshape the embattled Public Service Commission, Gov. Charlie Crist on Thursday named a former newspaper editorial board member and a former finance director for the Escambia County sheriff to the utility regulators' panel, ousting two incumbents.
"Crist appointed David Klement, formerly of the Bradenton Herald, and Benjamin "Steve" Stevens, former chief financial officer for the Escambia County Sheriff's Office, to serve on the five-member panel. He rejected two commissioners originally appointed by Gov. Jeb Bush who were seeking new, four-year terms: Chairman Matthew Carter and Katrina McMurrian."
Kudos to Governor Crist! Two of the five commissioners were appointed by Crist and stood out for being consumer-friendly: Nancy Argenziano and Nathan Skop. The other three were originally appointed by notoriously-industry-friendly Jeb Bush. In a move that baffled consumer activists, Gov. Crist did reappoint one of the Jeb Bush holdovers: Lisa Edgar.
No matter: combining Crist's two new picks with Argenizano and Skop may result in a solid majority of consumer-friendly commissioners on the PSC.
Note that Progress Energy and Florida Power and Light (FPL) each have asked the PSC to allow those companies to raise their rates by about 30%. Governor Crist wants the PSC to deny the rate-hike requests, given the poor economy that Florida consumers face.
Gov. Crist would also like to see the PSC postpone the rate-hike decisions until the two new commissioners take their posts in January 2010.
Fair enough. Why should the "new" PSC be saddled with such important decisions made by the "old" PSC?Over the past few months, the PSC has made headlines over evidence that some commissioners and staffers seemed awfully chummy with utility companies: the same utility companies that the PSC is supposed to regulate, the same utility companies that the PSC is supposed to keep in check for the benefit of consumers.
One of the to-be-replaced commissioners, Katrina McMurrian, was asked to recuse herself from the FPL rate-case, because she had gone to industry-sponsored dinners and otherwise socialized with utility executives.
You can see background info via the links listed below.
Related Buck Naked Politics Posts:* Fla. Consumers Face 31% Rate Hike, While Regulators Party with Utility Execs
* Fla. Governor Opposes Utility Rate Hike; PSC Staff Chummy with Utility Execs
* Fla. Utility Wants Rate Hike (Partly for Executive Perks)
* Fla. Regulators Want Utilities to Disclose Executive Salaries: Utilities Say No
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