By PSC Chair Charlotte Lane
I suppose it would come as no surprise to you that most of the comments we receive at the Public Service Commission are from people who are complaining about their utility services or the rates they must pay.
We invite the public to comment on any and all cases before the Commission. It certainly is your right, and the Commission welcomes your comments.
We have multiple ways by which you can file comments with the Commission. These include filing online, by mail, or physically coming into the Commission to state your mind while we are in session.
Today, I would like to spend a little time talking with you about what we call formal comments.
These are comments filed in cases that are docketed by the Commission as regular cases, or what we term as formal cases. In those instances, they are given a case number and proceed through our entire process, the details of which I need not get into right now.
In such cases, we publish the information that is involved.
For example, when a sewer company seeks a rate increase, that company must file a petition with us, opening a case. The company tells us what it is seeking. We give that case a number to track it, and it becomes a formal case. We generally then require the utility or petitioning party to publish a notification in your local newspaper about what the company is seeking.
We then invite the public to comment on that case and any other that becomes a formal proceeding.
Last year, the public filed a total of 1,467 formal comments with the Commission.
Of that number, 1,168 were in the form of a protest against what the utility was seeking.
Another 299 were filings made in support of what was being asked of the Commission.
The largest number of complaints – 895 – came in cases involving electric power rates.
The second-highest category was cases involving natural gas companies.
I suppose it is not surprising that fuel companies such as electricity and gas have so many complaints. Their rates tend to fluctuate more than others.
Last year we also had 240 informal complaints filed with us. Those are observations of a general nature and are not tied to a specific case before the Commission.
Again, complaints against electric rates led the list at 85, followed by complaints about water service and gas.
The Commission takes close heed of your comments. We file them in each case where we can properly identify what your comments are concerning. We take notice of what you say.
So, please let us know how you feel and what you think. We always like to hear from you.
