Mississippi PSC Chair Hashly Criticizes Perry's Plan

Brandon Presley, chairman of the Mississippi Public Service Commission, issued a statement harshly criticizing a plan announced by Rick Perry, secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), under which the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) was encouraged to help subsidize nuclear power plants and coal-fired generation operations by modifying the manner in which their output is priced in wholesale electric markets. More specifically, Perry had suggested that FERC should include an “adder” in pricing wholesale capacity from coal and nuclear units in recognition of the resilience and dependability they provide to the grid.

Commissioner Presley said that while it appeared that DOE’s pronouncement had been premised on a belief that both nuclear and coal-fueled facilities were being shuttered prematurely across the country, the Mississippi commission was “not aware of any studies confirming that perception.” The commissioner complained that the plan “would remove some of the authority from state regulators who are best positioned to evaluate which types of power plants should be running.”

He lamented further that Perry’s idea would cause Mississippi consumers to pay more “to prop up aging plants in other states” when Mississippians will never see a single watt of the energy from those stations. He added that it should be left to the electricity markets to decide both when it is time to retire a facility and what types of plants should be dispatched.