Public Service Commission approves multiple utility orders, opens rulemaking and recognizes utility workers

The Mississippi Public Service Commission on Tuesday approved a group of routine and substantive orders, including a stipulation with Mississippi Power on its property-damage reserve, multiple service-territory exchanges, a performance-evaluation plan stipulation and several administrative items. Commissioners also opened a rulemaking on the Net Generation rule and entered a temporary stay on tariffs related to the Solar for Schools program pending that rulemaking.

The actions streamline several utility filings and renewals the commission reviews regularly while authorizing staff and companies to continue planned reliability and modernization work. The meeting included presentations from Mississippi Power staff on reliability metrics and capital spending, and the commission adopted a resolution urging the Legislature to designate utility workers as first responders.

Why it matters: the package of approvals preserves the pace of infrastructure investments Mississippi utilities say are necessary to maintain reliability, while the new rulemaking and the Solar for Schools stay signal the commission wants more stakeholder input on how net-generation and school-solar costs are handled. The resolution asking the Legislature to recognize linemen and other utility workers as first responders formalizes a policy request intended to streamline emergency access and support during storms.

Key votes and outcomes - The commission adopted the consent docket for the June open meeting by unanimous voice vote. Commissioners proceeded through the energy, telecommunications and administrative dockets without roll-call tallies for most items.

- Entergy (Docket 2024 UA 129): staff presented a joint stipulation resolving annual formula-rate and look-back items. The stipulation left Entergy’s projected earned return within the bandwidth that requires no…