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Holly Springs officials tell PSC progress made after Winter Storm Fern but disagree on scale, cost and rate fixes
Summary
Holly Springs officials told the Mississippi Public Service Commission they have reduced complaints, replaced meters and restored most residential customers after Winter Storm Fern, but disagreed with outside assessments about the total cost to stabilize the system — $110 million cited in one report versus the city's consultant's $10–15 million estimate — prompting commissioners to press for clearer analyses and rate-setting plans.
Holly Springs utility officials told the Mississippi Public Service Commission on the docket meeting in February that they have made measurable progress repairing systems damaged during Winter Storm Fern, but they and commissioners sharply disagreed over how much investment the utility needs and who should pay.
Michael Watson, the city's consultant and acting general manager for utility operations, said the utility has cut customer complaints from 2024 levels, contracted to replace roughly 2,000 meters (about 60% complete), and implemented an internal outage-management system that will soon be public-facing. "We're making steady progress," Watson said, adding that meter replacements and corrected billing cycles would allow the utility to reinstate late-payment fees and reduce billing errors.
The dispute centers on the scale of capital investment required. Watson said the data he reviewed across comparable utilities suggest Holly Springs needs roughly $10 million to $15 million in capital investments to reach median plant investment levels, plus a…
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