The Public Service Commission approves a new rule aimed at streamlining the process for large projects like data centers to access the energy they need to operate. Under the new policy, utilities looking to build infrastructure to power those massive projects will no longer have to prove that the generation is the cheapest and most reliable on the market. Commissioner Jean-Paul Coussan proposed the rule as a way to accelerate the timelines for these projects. But Alaina DiLaura with the Alliance for Affordable Energy says everyone else will end up paying the price.
“They have limited the guard rim, not to have existed for 40+ years, to protect residential, commercial and industrial rate payers,” DiLaura said.
DiLaura says with this new policy, which the commission approved on a vote of 4-1, consumers are no longer guaranteed to be getting the most affordable electricity.
“It means that there is now rubber stamp process for giving the utilities anything that they want,” DiLaura noted.
DiLaura says the new policy is unfair to residents, who are already in the middle of an affordability crisis.
“There is a drastic imbalance toward the utility companies and the data centers and other large loads that are expected to enter the state,” DiLaura said.