The St. Pete Times editorializes today on the dirt coming from the Public Service Commission. Generous pay raises for PSC staff in hard times, Kentucky Derby parties, and coziness. Coziness??? Yes, the Times correctly says the PSC is way to close to the utilities.
When the PSC is in session, the Commissioners sit in front, and next there is a line of tables for their staff and utility representatives. Behind that barrier sit the consumers. Of course, mere consumers are not allowed to address the Commission directly. Fortunately, we do have an aggressive Public Counsel and some consumer groups like FCAN.
The room layout is just a symbol of how things are. The fact is, as the Times suggests, the PSC staff meets constantly with utility staff and hears their message every day. In the not too recent past, FCAN helped pass reforms to stop commissioners from taking gifts from utilities and from meeting privately with utility representatives. But now the staff seem to be the conduit for information. A recent commissioner was sanctioned for reading into the record a utility memo that he received from a staffer.
It is time to look again at doing more to clean up the PSC and restore the confidence of consumers. Commissioners can take action on their own, but it may take more legislative action to separate the PSC from the utilities.
If you want to have your say on being billed for nuke plants that you may not be around to see finished, or guaranteed utility profits above 10%, then you should email the PSC. I recommend writing directly to Commissioner Nancy Argenziano at Commissioner.Argenziano@psc.state.fl.us or call her at (850) 413-6038. I suggest Argenziano because she has listened to consumers and can be an advocate for us.
2 comments:
I agree with all of this except the last part. You really think Argenziano listens to consumers? She plays a good act but is just as bad as the rest of them. She received campaign contributions from all the corporate interests working against the utilities and she's a little too close with AARP and phone lobbyist Mike Twomey. Not to mention that she has been seen at utility soirees.
Your comments are correct. But Argenziano's finger is on the pulse. She is very sensitive to consumer concerns, although maybe not for the right reasons. She has a political future beyond the PSC, unlike the others. And when she reacts, watch out! The utilities work with her, but they know they are handling dynamite and it could blow up in their faces at any second.
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