The logo for Alabama Power, as seen on January 24, 2023.. Energy Alabama, a renewable energy advocacy group, has appealed a lower court ruling allowing the Public Service Commission to exclude it from a process determining the rate Alabama Power may charge customers to recover fuel costs. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector)
Renewable energy advocates Wednesday appealed a Montgomery County circuit judge’s ruling excluding them from consideration of customer rates set by Alabama Power.
Energy Alabama, a renewable energy organization, is seeking to join a docket to set the Energy Cost Recovery (ECR) rate, a price that Alabama Power can charge customers to offset the money they pay for fuel that the Public Service Commission allows.
“We believe decisions that affect customers should be made in the open,” said Daniel Tait, executive director of Energy Alabama. “Not in secret. Fuel costs have a major impact on monthly bills, and they are changed with virtually no transparency or public scrutiny. We are asking the Alabama Supreme Court to recognize that customers have the right to be heard when decisions about their energy costs are being made.”
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The PSC adjusts the rate as often as every month to align with the price of oil, natural gas and uranium in the market. To update the rate, the PSC issues interim consent orders based on recommendations from Alabama Power but has not allowed public input on the measure since 2008 and considers the docket closed.
The ECR rate is updated on an ongoing basis depending on the market rate for the different sources of fuel. Typically, Alabama Power submits a request to allow it to charge customers a specific price for the fuel that it buys that the PSC can either approve or change.
The issue of whether the PSC allows for the rate adjustments amounts to a proceeding is a critical issue because the regulations allow other parties to intervene and be part of the docket if there is a proceeding.
Energy Alabama’s position is that the updates are, in fact, proceedings, and that the public has a right to be part of the docket and weigh in on the appropriate rate ECR that Alabama Power should charge.
Montgomery Circuit Court Judge Brooke Reid ruled in July that the PSC could prevent Energy Alabama from intervening in the docket because the case does not involve fraud or reach a decision in which the evidence did not align with the decision, the only two instances that Alabama law allows the court to intervene.
Energy Alabama now wants the Alabama Supreme Court to decide whether updates to the rate ECR amount to a “proceeding” that would allow Energy Alabama to be part of the docket and weigh in on the decision.
A message was sent to Alabama Power and the Public Service Commission on Thursday seeking comment.
Energy Alabama filed a petition in May 2024 requesting to be part of the docket for deciding the fuel cost. In response, Alabama Power said in filing to the PSC that the rate adjustments are not proceedings that allow Energy Alabama to intervene and be party to the docket.
In the end, the PSC sided with Alabama Power and ruled in August 2024 that Energy Alabama could not intervene and be part of the docket. Energy Alabama requested the PSC reconsider its decision, but the PSC affirmed its decision in September that same year.
Energy Alabama filed an appeal in Montgomery County Circuit Court in December.