State officials apparently sees no problem when it comes to rushing through legislation that affects tens of thousands of Louisiana public school students or locking Louisiana into long-term tax relief for industries with little or no tangible benefits to the state but less than three months after its passage, a program approved by the Louisiana Public Service Commission (PSC) to give consumers an avenue to reduce energy costs may be scrapped.
The PSC is scheduled to vote on Wednesday to repeal the statewide energy-efficiency program to develop ways to cut down on power consumption to help save money for hundreds of thousands of homeowners and businesses.
Utilities would be required to file annual reports with the PSC that provide energy savings estimates and annual load reductions. The first phase, Quick Start, is scheduled to last a little less than four years from which point utilities will develop longer-term plans.
The problem? The program is expected to cost utilities between $25 million and $30 million. And guess who pours money into the campaigns of PSC members?
So now, while the ink is still wet on the regulation approved last Dec. 12, new PSC Chairman Eric Skrmetta (R-Metairie), himself the recipient of $45,000 in campaign contributions from energy-related firms and political action committees, has deemed that the ugly break for low- and middle-income consumers is a bad, bad thing and should be repealed henceforth.
It’s okay to hand out $5 billion a year in corporate tax breaks, exemptions, waivers and rebates but apparently taboo to take any action beneficial to consumers.
Remember what they say about money and B.S. and talking and walking.
Forty-six states currently offer Energy Efficiency programs to help consumers save energy costs (a program beneficial to everyone except the utility companies).
Heavy industrial users, which make up about half of Entergy’s Louisiana power consumption, are ineligible to participate if they use more than five megawatts of electricity, or about five times the average household consumption.
The initiative passed by 4-1 vote in December with Skrmetta voting in favor despite his stated opposition.
Contact numbers for PSC members are:
Eric Skrmetta (Metairie): 504-846-6930
Scott Angelle (Baton Rouge): 225-342-6900
Lambert Boissiere (New Orleans): 504-680-9529
Clyde Holloway (Forest Hill): 318-748-4715
Foster Campbell (Elm Grove): 318-676-7464
Louisiana Voice 
Come again please, this program would cost energy providers 25 to 30 million? Who would pay for that… possibly consumers? This bill would limit consumers use of electricity? What? Your going to cut me off when I reach a limit. Since that wonderful “Smart Meter” almost killed me before I finally realized what the problem was, was removed I suppose the energy supplier would have to sit by my meter & watch till it reached that point. That’s a rant too long for here, but remember not to put CFL lights in lamps you sit near, yeah, it’s radiation it gives off & it will aggravate any arthritic conditions & a number of other health issues. So this plan sends people out to check your AC efficiency? My 1984 central unit would most likely raise a red flag, but when you look at my electric use for last summer & see the bill was never over 50 bucks you’ve got to wonder if I even use the thing. I do! It’s a 3 phase unit. But under the guidelines of this plan I’m sure it would be sent to the AC scrap yard. I see this repeal as a win for consumers. Tho our current president & his energy sec. has stated they want energy prices to skyrocket & are choking our electricity supply. Hopefully some of his other radical ideas will have him & his cohorts choked out of the system so this country can get back to work.
In response to Lynn:
1. Electric Utilities are granted monopolies and as such are not only allowed but encouraged to operate at a reasonable profit margin. The Utilities reduction in gross income of $30M will not be nearly that much in NET income as they will not have to pay to either generate or buy the electricity. The utility will not be hurt but average consumers will benefit. You know, folks like you and me that our Constitutiion refers to when it speaks of the General Welfare of the nation and NOT a select privileged few.
2. As I understand the matter, this would be an effort by utility companies to assist individual consumers VOLUNTARILY reduce their energy use/consumption. There is no boogeyman coming to force you to do anything. In fact, very openly the utility companies are being required (yes, when you are granted a monopoly it comes with certain responsibilities) to assist YOU and all “small” electricity consumers in lessening your energy consumption through intelligent conservation practices. Who knows more about energy consumption than the energy company? No one. That’s why they are being required to share that information with “small” consumers. Reducing energy use is critical to our national defense. it makes us less vulnerable to foreign government’s whims. You may recall why Bush and Cheney said deposing sadam Hussein was critical to our national defrense BEFORE they had to fall back on their lie about weapons of mass destruction. It was all about the USA having too large an apetite for ENERGY. So it is, quite frankly, UnAmerican to oppose any form of energy reduction efforts. Do you realize that you are taking an UnAmerican position?
3. Would you like to be a rich woman? If yes, then I’ll make a bet with you that you surely feel you will win. I will bet you $1,000 to your $10 that you can never find a single statement by President Obama where he as you claim “…has stated they want energy prices to skyrocket & are choking our electricity supply.” Quite frankly, making such a statement—oh, never mind. I’m about to get personal and this isn’t the place for that.
4. And just out of curiosity, how did you get from the Louisiana Public Service Commission to President Obama and the Secretary of Energy? That’s mental helter-skelter at an institutional level.
Ok, paste this in your browser-
I really cannot believe you have not seen this video.
This should clear up your misconception about the presidents intentions. It’s him speaking. Choking out coal fired plants will put a stranglehold on electric supply, thus we need to learn to use less, says our president. There is no better way than limiting us thru means such as smart meters.
& of course, you have to bring GWB into any argument. (btw- yes, I know, the sequester is Bush’s fault) I do believe all that crap was over oil. How much of our electric power in the US is from oil. There are 13 oil fired plants as opposed to how many nuke plants, natural gas plants and coal fired plants. I’d hate to have to count them, but we both know that oil fired plants don’t amount to a large percentage of electricity that is generated in this country. So you can take that UnAmerican position you put me in see that it doesn’t quite add up when we are discussing electricity.
Reducing energy consumption should be up to the consumer & electric cost is enough for most of us to do the things like insulation for out homes & energy efficient windows. Our electric bills keep us in check! We don’t need anything cutting us off when we go over a certain government limit. That is what this bill would allow. C’mon, you don’t want to run into the situation where you can’t run your AC & charge your Prius because it’s peak load time & you’ve already used “your share”!