Public Service Commission meets May 7 in Bossier City
On May 7, the Louisiana Public Service Commission will meet in Bossier City for the first time in its 100-year history.
This is an important event for the PSC, which sets utility rates for Louisiana consumers.
For the commission, it is part of an ongoing effort to improve public access to commissioners and staff as well as our understanding of local issues that may not be well-known in Baton Rouge.
The PSC meeting in the Bossier City Council Chambers is also an opportunity for local residents to observe in person the workings of a state agency that sets the cost of utilities and how those services are delivered to customers each month.
I first campaigned for a seat on this five-member board in 2002 in part by promising to open the agency to more public involvement. One of my campaign pledges was holding commission meetings around the state.
My opponent, an 18-year incumbent, said it could not be done. He was mistaken. The Bossier City meeting will be the 11th held in North Louisiana since I took office in 2003. We have met in Shreveport, Ruston, West Monroe, Vidalia, Winnfield, Natchitoches and Many.
Other commissioners have hosted meetings in Alexandria, Lake Charles, Lafayette, Houma, New Orleans, Covington and Mandeville.
Besides the PSC, other boards of state government have ventured outside Baton Rouge to meet, including the Board of Regents and the state Racing Commission. Louisiana has a wide variety of cultures and economic interests, and I believe it is healthy for state leaders to travel outside the capital and see what places like Bossier City have to offer and what is on the minds of their residents.
Another thing I promised to do if elected was to regularly visit all the parishes in my 24-parish district to hold town meetings and hear from local residents. Since becoming your commissioner, I have held more than 150 such meetings.
Most recently I’ve visited Homer, Haynesville, Minden, Sibley, Winnsboro, Columbia, Mansfield and Coushatta.
These town meetings are crucial to my own understanding of what goes on in North Louisiana. I could not adequately serve the needs of nearly one million residents in 24 parishes if I never left Shreveport-Bossier City.
The commission provides public access to its documents, proceedings and meeting agendas through our website, www.lpsc.louisiana.gov. Citizens can also arrange to go online to listen to our meetings live.
PSC meetings are covered each month by Louisiana Hometown Productions, a videoproduction company, which broadcasts a summary of our proceedings on local-access cable-television channels throughout the state.
The Public Service Commission will hold its May meeting at 11 a.m. May 7 at the Bossier City Municipal Complex, City Council Chambers, 620 Benton Road. The agenda will be published a few days in advance of the meeting on our website. The public is invited. A Break in the Weather It’s good to see the arrival of spring after this winter’s bitter cold temperatures. Many consumers have contacted my office to complain of high electric and gas bills brought on by the repeated cold fronts traveling through North Louisiana.
Louisiana utilities have had to suspend cutoffs for non-payment several times this winter to comply with the PSC’s no-cutoff rule. I sponsored the rule in 2007. It says consumers shall not have their electricity or gas cut off when temperatures are at or below freezing for two days in a row. The summer version uses a heat index of 105 degrees or hotter as the benchmark.
Brutal extremes of weather are bad enough without having to go without heat or cooling. The no-cutoff rule allows consumers a little extra time to get caught up on their bills while the weather moderates. In the meantime, enjoy spring.
Open up your windows, and let in some fresh air. It’s free.
Foster Campbell is the North Louisiana representative on the Louisiana Public Service Commission. You can reach him at 676-7464 or foster. campbell@la.gov.
