Louisiana Public Service Commission

{{Short description|Independent regulatory agency of Louisiana}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}} {{Infobox government agency | name = Louisiana Public Service Commission | native_name = | native_name_a = | native_name_r = | type = | seal = Seal of Louisiana.svg | seal_size = 175 | seal_caption = [[Seal of Louisiana]] | seal_alt = | logo = | logo_size = | logo_caption = | logo_alt = | image = | image_size = | image_caption = | image_alt = | formed = {{Start date|1921|06|18}} | preceding1 = Railroad Commission of Louisiana | preceding2 =  | dissolved = | superseding1 = | superseding2 =  | agency_type = [[Regulatory agency|Independent regulatory agency]] | jurisdiction = [[Louisiana]] | status = | headquarters = Galvez Building<br>[[Baton Rouge, Louisiana]] | coordinates =  | motto = | employees = | budget = $10,242,843 ([[Fiscal year|FY]] 2021) | minister_type = | minister1_name = | minister1_pfo = | minister2_name = | minister2_pfo =  | deputyminister_type = | deputyminister1_name = | deputyminister1_pfo = | deputyminister2_name = | deputyminister2_pfo =  | chief1_name = [[Mike Francis (politician)|Mike Francis]] | chief1_position = Chairman | chief2_name = Craig Greene | chief2_position = Vice Chairman | parent_department = | parent_agency = | parent_agency_type =  | child1_agency = | child2_agency =  | keydocument1 = [[Constitution of Louisiana#Article IV. Executive Branch|Article IV, Section 21 of the Louisiana Constitution]] | website = {{URL|http://www.lpsc.louisiana.gov/}} | agency_id = | map = | map_size = | map_caption = | map_alt = | footnotes = | embed = }} {{Politics of Louisiana}}

The '''Louisiana Public Service Commission''' ('''LPSC''')<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lpsc.louisiana.gov/|title=Welcome to the Louisiana Public Service Commission Website|website=lpsc.louisiana.gov|publisher=Louisiana Public Service Commission}}</ref> is an independent regulatory agency which manages public utilities and motor carriers in [[Louisiana]]. The commission is established by Article IV, Section 21<ref>{{Cite web |title=State Constitution of 1974 > Article IV: Executive Branch |url=https://senate.la.gov/Documents/Constitution/article4.htm |access-date=2023-11-18 |website=senate.la.gov}}</ref> of the 1921 Constitution of the State of Louisiana.<ref>{{Citation |title=Constitution of Louisiana |date=2023-10-18 |url=https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Constitution_of_Louisiana&oldid=1180789493 |work=Wikipedia |access-date=2023-11-18 |language=en}}</ref> It succeeded the Railroad Commission of Louisiana that was created by the 1898 Constitution.<ref>{{Cite web |title=About Us |url=https://lpscpubvalence.lpsc.louisiana.gov/portal/lpsc-about-us |access-date=2023-11-18 |website=lpscpubvalence.lpsc.louisiana.gov}}</ref> The commission has five elected members chosen in single-member districts for staggered six-year terms. Thus the commissioners have large constituencies (bigger, e.g., than [[Louisiana's congressional districts|Congressional districts]]), long terms (6 years), and close involvement with issues of intense consumer interest (such as electricity bills); consequently membership in LPSC has been known to serve as a springboard to even higher public office, as in the cases of [[Huey Long]], [[Jimmie Davis]], [[John McKeithen]], and [[Kathleen Babineaux Blanco]] — LPSC members who became [[List of governors of Louisiana|governors of Louisiana]].

==Jurisdiction== The LPSC is frequently in the news in Louisiana, largely because of its regulatory authority over investor-owned public utilities which offer [[electric]], water, wastewater, [[natural gas]], as well as telecommunication services. It also regulates [[electric cooperative|electric member-owned cooperative]]s, including those whose members have voted to vest the commission with particular powers. The commission's authority does not extend within the city limits of New Orleans for electric retail services as that power is held by the city council. The LPSC also is not vested with some of its regulatory authority for those electric utilities which are municipally owned and have greater than 50 MW of load; those powers are held by the city councils for those governments, including the city of Lafayette, Louisiana.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lpsc.org/regs5_electric.aspx |title= LPSC Regulations - Electric |access-date=2013-08-09 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130809103316/http://www.lpsc.org/regs5_electric.aspx |archive-date=2013-08-09 }}</ref> It regulates intrastate transportation, including passenger carrier services, waste haulers, household goods carriers, non-consensual towing, and intrastate pipelines.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=[[The Town Talk|Alexandria Daily Town Talk]]|date=November 30, 2008|url=http://www.thetowntalk.com/article/20081130/NEIGHBORHOODS05/811300325|title=Article}}{{dead link|date=April 2016}}</ref> These issues are inseparable from often strongly held opinions by consumers and the regulated industries. One of LPSC'S most-popular actions was its implementation, on January 1, 2002, of the "Do Not Call" program, which prohibits [[telemarketer]]s from [[telephone|telephoning]] people who request that they not receive such calls.<ref>[http://www.lpsc.org/_pdfs/_orders/DNCGeneralOrder.pdf Louisiana Public Service Commission's DO NOT CALL Program Rules.] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070801171633/http://www.lpsc.org/_pdfs/_orders/DNCGeneralOrder.pdf |date=August 1, 2007 }}</ref> The power of the LPSC was reduced by the Supreme Court in favor of the [[Federal Energy Regulatory Commission]] for determining electric generation costs in ''[[Entergy Louisiana, Inc. v. Louisiana Public Service Commission]]''.

==History== The commission was first established as the '''Railroad, Express, Telephone, Telegraph, Steamboat and Other Water Craft, and Sleeping Car Commission''' in the 1898 Constitution. As originally established, the Commission consisted of three members elected to staggered, six-year terms, each from a separate district.<ref>{{cite constitution |article=283, 289|polity=Louisiana |date=1898 |url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/hvd.hl47v7?urlappend=%3Bseq=108%3Bownerid=27021597765447962-112|access-date=June 15, 2025}}</ref> The districts, which were originally based in metropolitan New Orleans, southern Louisiana, and northern Louisiana, were not redrawn until 1972. Then, when the 1974 Constitution was adopted, the commission was expanded to five members, and districts were redrawn every decade to correspond with the federal census.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Yeargain|first=Quinn|date=2023|title=Shadow Districts|url=https://cardozolawreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/YEARGAIN.45.2.7_WEB-compressed.pdf|journal=Cardozo Law Review|volume=45|issue=2|pages=477|access-date=June 15, 2025}}</ref> The commission was renamed the '''Public Service Commission''' by the state's 1921 Constitution.<ref>{{cite constitution |article=VI|section=3|polity=Louisiana |date=1921|url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Constitution_of_the_State_of_Louisiana/mVMbAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA99&printsec=frontcover|access-date=June 15, 2025}}</ref>

Members of Commission have frequently sought higher office, and often successfully. Four former members have been elected Governor: [[Huey Long]] in [[1928 Louisiana gubernatorial election|1928]], [[Jimmie Davis]] in [[1944 Louisiana gubernatorial election|1944]] and [[1960 Louisiana gubernatorial election|1960]], [[John McKeithen]] in [[1964 Louisiana gubernatorial election|1964]] and [[1968 Louisiana gubernatorial election|1968]], and [[Kathleen Blanco]] in [[2003 Louisiana gubernatorial election|2003]]. In recent years, several Public Service Commissioners have unsuccessfully run for higher office: [[Foster Campbell]] ran for Governor in [[2007 Louisiana gubernatorial election|2007]] and the U.S. Senate in [[2016 United States Senate election in Louisiana|2016]], and [[Scott Angelle]] ran for Governor in [[2015 Louisiana gubernatorial election|2015]] and for Congress in [[2016 United States House of Representatives elections in Louisiana#District 3|2016]].

Democrats held a majority on the commission from the first elections in 1898 through 2008. In 2008, Democratic Commissioner [[Dale Sittig]] resigned to accept an appointment by Governor [[Bobby Jindal]] to serve as the executive director of the Louisiana Offshore Terminal Authority.<ref>{{cite news|title=PSC member Sittig steps down|newspaper=Monroe News-Star|date=September 17, 2008|page=5A|location=[[Monroe, Louisiana]]|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-news-star/174577991/|access-date=June 15, 2025}}</ref> Jindal appointed Pat Manuel to serve until a 2009 special election,<ref>{{cite news|title=Race for PSC Begins Again|last=Moore|first=Jeff|newspaper=[[Lafayette Daily Advertiser]]|date=December 4, 2008|page=2A|location=[[Lafayette, Louisiana]]|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-advertiser/174578114/|access-date=June 15, 2025}}</ref> which was won by former Republican Congressman [[Clyde C. Holloway]], winning a Republican majority on the commission for the first time in its history.<ref>{{cite news|title=Well-known Louisiana congressman, Public Service Commission chair Clyde Holloway dies Sunday|last=Ballard|first=Mark|newspaper=[[The Advocate (Louisiana)|The Advocate]]|date=October 17, 2016|location=[[Baton Rouge, Louisiana]]|url=https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/politics/well-known-louisiana-congressman-public-service-commission-chair-clyde-holloway-dies-sunday/article_caea44b8-9471-11e6-b4bf-87719475ca48.html|access-date=June 15, 2025}}</ref>

==Commissioners== {|class="wikitable sortable" |- !District !Name !Party !Start !Next Election |- |1 |{{sortname|Eric|Skrmetta}} |{{Party shading/Republican}} |Republican |{{dts|January 1, 2009}} |2026 (term limited)<ref>{{cite web|title=Commissioner - District 1|url=https://www.lpsc.louisiana.gov/District1|website=Louisiana Public Service Commission|access-date=June 15, 2025}}</ref> |- |2 |{{sortname|Jean-Paul|Coussan}} |{{Party shading/Republican}} |Republican |{{dts|January 1, 2025}} |2030<ref>{{cite web|title=Commissioner - District 2|url=https://www.lpsc.louisiana.gov/District2|website=Louisiana Public Service Commission|access-date=June 15, 2025}}</ref> |- |3 |{{sortname|Davante|Lewis}} |{{Party shading/Democratic}} |Democratic |{{dts|December 31, 2022}} |2028<ref>{{cite web|title=Commissioner - District 3|url=https://www.lpsc.louisiana.gov/District3|website=Louisiana Public Service Commission|access-date=June 15, 2025}}</ref> |- |4 |{{sortname|Mike|Francis|dab=politician}} |{{Party shading/Republican}} |Republican |{{dts|January 3, 2017}} |2028<ref>{{cite web|title=Commissioner - District 4|url=https://www.lpsc.louisiana.gov/District4|website=Louisiana Public Service Commission|access-date=June 15, 2025}}</ref> |- |5 |{{sortname|Foster L.|Campbell}} |{{Party shading/Democratic}} |Democratic |{{dts|January 1, 2003}} |2026 (term limited)<ref>{{cite web|title=Commissioner - District 5|url=https://www.lpsc.louisiana.gov/District5|website=Louisiana Public Service Commission|access-date=June 15, 2025}}</ref> |}

== Controversy == The Louisiana Public Service Commission has enabled and enforced a limited cap on [[Net energy metering|net metering]], preventing many homeowners from across the state from installing solar panels on their homes. The cap, which is lower than almost any other state in the country, has faced criticism from homeowners who want the ability to go solar to save money on their electric bills.

Some utilities in Louisiana have already begun to hit their cap, and new homeowners in those areas cannot install solar systems. If the Public Service Commission does not increase the cap, some solar companies may be forced to close or to leave the state.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Entergy Louisiana cuts off solar net-metering|url = http://www.wwltv.com/story/news/local/investigations/david-hammer/2015/11/25/entergy-louisiana-cuts-off-solar-net-metering/76398242/|website = WWLTV|access-date = 2016-02-02|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160215211524/http://www.wwltv.com/story/news/local/investigations/david-hammer/2015/11/25/entergy-louisiana-cuts-off-solar-net-metering/76398242/|archive-date = 2016-02-15|url-status = dead}}</ref>

On March 28, 2016, the commission in a 4–1 vote approved the sale of [[CLECO|Cleco]], an energy company based in [[Pineville, Louisiana|Pineville]], to a group of foreign investors: Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets, [[British Columbia Investment Management Corporation]], [[John Hancock Financial]], and other infrastructure investors. Earlier, the commission had disapproved the sale despite support from business leaders and Cleco investors. In his opposition, Commissioner Clyde Holloway expressed fear for "the long term consequences of Cleco's captive ratepayers. Cleco as we know it has ceased to exist. It is now owned by a private foreign investment company that plans to flip it in eight to ten years. And that same private foreign investment company is financing the deal with a massive amount of debt. ..."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thetowntalk.com/story/news/2016/03/28/cleco-sale-approved/82272932/|title=CLECO sale approved: Pineville-based utility to move from public to private hands|author=Jeff Matthews|work=[[The Town Talk|Alexandria Town Talk]]|date=March 28, 2016|access-date=March 30, 2016}}</ref>

==Notes== {{reflist}}

==External links== * [http://www.lpsc.louisiana.gov/ Louisiana Public Service Commission official site] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20090120100317/http://www.ftc.gov/opa/1998/11/lapsc.shtm Federal Trade Commission Staff Comment with Louisiana Officials about Rules Governing Regulated Utilities/Unregulated Affiliates]

[[Category:State agencies of Louisiana|public service]] [[Category:Public utilities commissions of the United States]]