If you want to know how your lights come on in Arkansas, you need to look to the Public Service Commission. The commission, which is headed by three commissioners appointed by the state’s governor, has been around in Arkansas government since the late 1800s – though it has evolved in its responsibilities over time.
The current commissioners include three attorneys: Justin Tate, Doyle Webb and Katie Anderson. Tate and Anderson were both appointed by former Gov. Asa Hutchinson, while Webb – who also serves as chairman of the commission– was more recently appointed by Gov. Sarah Sanders. Tate was recently reappointed by Sanders for another six year term on the commission.
On any given day, the public service commissioners along with their staff of attorneys, rate analysts, information technologists, engineers, subject matter experts, and others help the commissioners consider dozens of customer complaints, rate cases, public hearings, and other “dockets.”
While the commission also regulates water and sewer, gas, and telecommunications companies, most of the attention is on electricity utilities like Entergy Arkansas, SWEPCO, and the Electric Co-operatives of Arkansas. Ted Thomas is a former commissioner of the Arkansas Public Service Commission, serving from 2015 to 2022 under Gov. Asa Hutchinson. Thomas said that the Public Service Commission aims to balance the need to keep energy affordable with also keeping utility companies in good financial shape so they can access credit easier in the capital-intensive business of producing electricity.
Thomas, an attorney who now runs his own energy consulting firm and once served in the Arkansas House of Representatives, said he loved the policymaking process on the commission but didn’t care as much for the human resources management parts of the job.
“Most people get into public service because they want to make a difference, but on the Public Service Commission, you have a public responsibility and the fundamental challenge of the job is to push for affordability and fairness for customers,” Thomas said. “But if you make a company provide something and give them less money than they charge– then they go out of business. You don’t just want the utility struggling so they can be financially healthy.”
Ultimately, Thomas emphasized that public service commissioners like to hear from the public on rate cases, even though on many matters, people don’t show up to hearings.
“The public participation goes up and down with the public mood, and we typically didn’t have that many people at public hearings,” Thomas said. “But it is important. I remember one time when there were some reliability issues in Hot Springs Village, and a lot of people showed up to a hearing and that helped make things better. And that is part of the job, if you don’t want to sit there and listen to public comments that are well informed, and some that are just angry people ranting, don’t be a government official. It’s your job to hear the comments.”
You can stay up to date with Public Service Commission hearing schedules using its website. The next part of our series will focus on the different kinds of matters that electricity utilities bring to the Public Service Commission.
Writers with the Southern Renewable Energy Association and Powering Arkansas are writing these stories because regulatory decisions shape everyday life, from affordability to reliability, and yet they’re still often a mystery to the average consumer. Our aim is to provide transparent recaps of these meetings and show how you can participate in public comment or hearings. Keep up with regulatory affairs in Arkansas by following Powering Arkansas on Facebook and sign up for email updates.
