Louisiana Voice

I’m not sure what Public Service Commissioner Eric Skrmetta’s angle is, but you can bet the farm there is one and Louisiana electric power customers stand to take the hit.

I’ve written about Skrmetta’s BUSINESS TIES  to Jason Hewitt, whose “energy efficiency company” was awarded a $17.3 million contract by the PSC.

LouisianaVoice also did a story about Skrmetta BUSINESS PARTNER Scott McQuaig who was hired as a PSC legal counsel but when his license to practice law was suspended indefinitely, the PSC simply hired him as a “consultant.”

It was revealed here that Skrmetta failed to mention his INVOLVEMENT in a Mississippi casino. All state officials are required to divulge such information on their financial disclosure statements

Likewise, he neglected to disclose an AGREEMENT he entered int with Boomtown Casino to attempt to bring a casino to Harvey.

Now, we have Skrmetta, who represents all or part of 11 PARISHES in southeastern Louisiana, offering up a motion (thankfully, tabled until the PSC’s December meeting) that proposes that the PSC “provide written notice of withdrawal from membership to MISO.”

MISO is the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, a nonprofit association that manages the power grid for 15 states and Manitoba Province in Canada. It oversees the uninterrupted provision of electricity to 42 million people. Louisiana has been a member of MISO since 2013.

So now, Skrmetta apparently wants Louisiana to follow Texas in subjecting Louisiana to massive power outages in the middle of winter – perhaps so Sen. John Kennedy, like Ted Cruz, can take a vacation in Cancun when the lights go out.

Texas is not a member of any cooperative power grid, relying instead on the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), and went through widespread OUTAGES in the middle of the coldest winter in 72 years, leaving more than 5 million Texans shivering in the dark for six days, leaving the state only minutes away from months-long power outages.

Membership in the MISO grid provides many to Louisiana, including the ability to borrow electricity from other states during times of emergencies, said SIMON MAHAN, executive director of the Southern Renewable Energy Association. Part of the reason for the power blackout in Texas was because much of Texas is not connected to an interstate power grid, he said.

Membership also allows power companies to broker electricity to and from other states at wholesale prices, which creates competition in areas such as Louisiana that are serviced by only a few power companies, he said. A 2020 analysis conducted by Entergy revealed that Louisiana’s MISO membership saved customers an about $63 million last year and $698 million from 2014 to 2020.

Skrmetta apparently has an issue with MISO’s growing reliance on wind turbines. He indicated he feared taxpayers would be called upon to finance the transmission of power, which he said will cost $130 billion to bring to homes and businesses.

Mahan disputed Skrmetta’s claim, but qualified his denial by admitting that MISO could conceivably change its policy and begin charging southern customers for its projects up north.

But withdrawing from MISO is not an option and should be rejected out of hand by the PSC.

I seldom advocate mass calling projects because unless an issue is particularly controversial, it rarely generates the desired results in terms of participation. Add to that the fact that the PSC is one of those agencies that get little attention from the public, and you have the perfect recipe for a public body’s ability to operate in obscurity.

But this is a critical issue and if you are reading this, you really need to contact your PSC member and give him (all five are male) an earful.

To do so, go back to this link: http://www.lpsc.louisiana.gov/DistrictMapPage.aspx and click on your member’s name in the lower left part of the page. That will take you to your member’s page and you can go to the gray shaded box to the right to click onto his office’s email.

Get involved!