SB2453 passes with amendment

The Mississippi House took up SB2453, Wednesday with Rep. Steve Massengill of District 13, who is a member on the public utilities committee, taking sorties from fellow members of the House.

The meeting reflected varying opposing views which will be a part of this report, giving attention to Representatives John Faulkner, Bill Kinkade and Massengill’s, reflections on the desirable and undesirable issues in the bill as they each see it.

Three members of the Holly Springs board of aldermen, Bernita Fountain, Dexter Shipp and Patricia Merriweather, attended the meeting held on the floor of the House at 2 p.m. March 20.

The “teeth” in the bill may have been pulled by amendment #3 presented by Faulkner, which would give any proceeds from the sale of any portion of the certificated district of the Holly Springs Utility Department to the City of Holly Springs.

Language in the bill would put that in the hands of a chancery judge to decide on disposition of any of the certificated area.

Hardball discussions taking place on the House floor before the deciding vote to

pass the bill in favor at 78 votes and against the bill at 32 votes are abbreviated for the purpose of this article.

Several members against the measure argued for a definition of reasonable reliable service, which Massengill repeatedly said is service that keeps the electricity on for HSUD’s electric customers. The utility has power outages daily, even in good weather and is understaffed, he said.

Many opposed the bill on the grounds that it would put the decision of certification of HSUD and two other power providers affected by the bill in the hands of three public service commissioners to investigate and decide whether HSUD’s service is acceptable. They argued that the City of Holly Springs has not been given adequate time and resources to make the repairs needed to provide reliable power to its customers.

Discussion also centered on the hundreds of miles of power lines and the cost to maintain the rights-of-way. The city approved a $3 million contract with a company to work on improvements.

One house member asked if the utilities committee had gotten letters of support from customers.

Massengill said the condition of the infrastructure in the HSUD grid has worsened over the years. He said the legislation gives HSUD a reasonable amount of time to make improvements before the PSC would move aggressively to break up the certificated area. He said putting these three municipally owned and operated electric distributors under the PSC merely places those under the same oversight and the other companies in Mississippi.

“The bill gives the PSC power to revoke the certificate if it can’t fix the problem,” Massengill said. “This gives them (PSC) the teeth. They can revoke the certificate if there is a finding they are not doing their job.”

He said HSUD has money to pay for the repairs and maintenance on its system with a customer base of over 12,000.

One legislator asked if the new battery plant would affect the need for this bill.

Massengill said the plant is located in an area supplied by a different power company.

He said customers living outside the City of Holly Springs have no say in the service and are not represented as are those living in the city who can vote.

Massengill said the bill gives the city time to remedy the problem with inadequate reliable power.

He said there are about 7,000 customers, by far the majority, who live outside the city. Eighty percent of HSUD’s customers live outside the city limits.

He said he is not worried that the PSC will overreach. All utilities in the state fall under the PSC, he said.

He said HSUD affects the power supply not only of customers but three schools are affected and when the power is off it affects these schools ability to remain open adding that not only the children but the elderly are also affected when the power is out.

Faulkner made a number of statements regarding the bill: • the HB1484 died in committee, an identical bill as SB2453.

• the author of SB2453 is Sen. Neil Whaley.

• Faulkner is the only member of the local delegation living in Holly Springs.

• Faulkner is against the bill.

• Where in the legislation is the ratepayer addressed? “It says reasonable adequate service,” Massengill said. “I say the PSC has to determine that. If you don’t have power at your house, it is not adequate.” • Faulkner asked what the difference is in the City of Holly Springs, the City of New Albany and Okolona.

• Faulkner said he thinks a board of commissioners over HSUD would he sufficient representation for customers outside the city limits.

“I think the PSC has more power,” Massengill said.

• Faulkner said he thinks offering a permanent solution to a temporary problem is not a good idea.

“I think this gets us started,” Massengill said. “I know it’s a long process. Anything you do is going to be a long process.”

• Faulkner said the investigation of the HSUD system has already been done by TVPPA (Tennessee Valley Public Power Association) that the report “puts out the good, bad and ugly of the system.”

He asked who decides who gets the money from the proceeds of sale of part of the certificated area.

Massengill said the judge determines that in the bill as drafted.

Rep. Bill Kinkade spoke before the body.

He said he has met with many of the people being supplied by electric power.

“They were desperate. Nobody from Holly Springs showed up,” he said referring to field hearings held in 2023 in the city. (Alderman Patricia Merriweather actually attended the field hearings).

“They can’t pump water,” he said. “On a clear day they lose power three or four times a day. I gotta be honest with you.”

Kinkade said he received a early morning call pleading for the passage of the bill from an HSUD customer from Wildcat Bottom whose power was out.

“I implore you. Do the right thing. Today is the day to do that. Please do not table this bill,” he said.

A roll call vote on the motion to table the issue by Faulkner failed by a vote of 31 votes to table and 79 to not table the bill.

Faulkner then asked for a number of strike offs that would change the language to gut the bill.

The nay votes were insufficient to uphold the strike offs.

Faulkner then presented Amendment 2 that would put a 2 year repealer on the bill so the legislature could come back and reconsider the bill after two years. The no votes 74, vs. 38 yeas, killed Amendment #2.

Then Faulkner offered Amendment #3 that would give all the money generated from the sale of any portion of the certificated area to the City of Holly Springs.

Amendment #3 passed.

The bill then came up for a vote and passed with 78 votes in favor on SB2453 and 32 against the bill.