The Public Service Commission declined a procedural request from the Lake Carolina Homeowners Association to intervene and to set aside a previously approved rate increase for Canton Municipal Utilities (CMU), after attorneys for both sides and staff presented competing accounts of notice and process.

Mister Herring and Jim Cruz, counsel for the homeowners association, argued the commission lacked jurisdiction when it entered the order approving CMU's rates because the utility did not timely notify members or publish notice in the docket, and that certificates of service filed five months after the order were insufficient. They asked to intervene to raise a jurisdictional defect so the commission could reopen the matter.

CMU counsel, represented by Mr. Lasky and Keith Turner, replied that actual notice was mailed in August 2024 and published in September 2024 during a suspension period, that only a small number of mailings were returned, and that the record supports constructive notice; counsel said the certificate-of-notice filing timing is not jurisdictional. Legal staff told commissioners that the motion to intervene hinges on notice claims that lack binding legal authority to void the final order.

Commissioner Stamps asked staff for a recommendation and legal staff advised the matter is procedural, the docket is closed and relief would require separate proceedings under established PSC rules. Commissioners voted to deny the motion to intervene and to leave substantive adequacy-of-service claims for separate filings or dockets where appropriate.