Rep. Russell Bedsole, R-Alabaster (left) speaks with Rep. Mack Butler, R-Rainbow City (right) on the floor of the Alabama House of Representatives on Feb. 19, 2026, at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama. Butler proposed a bill aimed at addressing high energy rates in the state, requiring the Public Service Commission to hold rate case hearings every three years, something that has not happened since 1982. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector)
An Alabama House committee delayed consideration of a bill Wednesday aimed at increasing regulation of utilities after the sponsor introduced a version with explicit requirements for the Public Service Commission (PSC) to hold legal hearings on rates.
HB 475, sponsored by Rep. Mack Butler, R-Rainbow City, would require the PSC to hold annual rate hearings for each regulated utility. The legislation was filed amid growing public frustration over high power bills and after an attempt to end elections to the PSC floundered in the Senate.
A substitute introduced by Butler would require rate case hearings every three years, which Butler said was in line with other states that hold hearings.
“I literally don’t do this job because I need to. I do it because I want to, and I want to serve the people in my district. I heard from them loud and clear, it is time something is done,” Butler said in an interview after the meeting. “Ronald Reagan was president last time that they had a formal rate case hearing.”
As originally filed, Butler’s bill called for a public hearing but did not specify whether that would be a formal rate hearing, which includes subpoenas, sworn testimony and the public discussion of data used to justify rates. The substitute requires formal hearings. Since 1982, the PSC has used a process known as Rate Stabilization Equalization (RSE), which guarantees utilities a profit and limits public input into rate-making decisions.
Alabama has long had high electricity rates. The U.S. Energy Information Administration said that Alabamians paid an average of 16.08 cents per kilowatt-hour in November, the highest in the South.
Butler said that the bill would force the commissioners to “do their jobs.”
“If these people had been doing their job, looking out for the people instead of looking out for the utility providers, there is, without a doubt, that they care less about the people of this state than even our competitiveness with other states,” Butler said.
Rep. Leigh Hulsey, R-Helena, disagreed that the commission has not made efforts to lower costs for consumers.
“In working with them for the last 11 months, particularly with President [Cynthia] Almond, they adopted some policy and procedures to ensure that data centers were not putting that cost off on the consumers,” Hulsey said. “Now we have filed a bill this session as well that would codify what they have done, but that was the work of the commission. I think to say that nothing is being done is probably not a fair statement.”
The bill comes after a separate bill, HB 392, sponsored by Rep. Chip Brown, R-Hollinger’s Island, ending popular elections of the commission was declared dead by Senate President Pro Tem Garlan Gudger, R-Cullman, on Thursday. Gudger said the legislation was moving “too fast” and addressing “the issue too narrowly.”
HB 392 was filed on Feb. 5. It appeared in a committee meeting on Feb. 10, where renewable energy advocates strongly criticized the measure, saying it would do little to cut bills and limit public input in utility regulation.
Two days later, the bill was up for a vote in the House but was removed from the agenda because it did not have enough votes in the Senate. Experts say that ending popular elections would not guarantee lower rates.
Butler’s substitute would also provide an impeachment process for commissioners if they do not hold rate case hearings, which would result in an appointed commissioner until the next election. Rep. Parker Moore, R-Hartselle, was confused by the section of the bill.
“The only person that’s allowed to call those meetings is the president of the PSC, so why would you punish the other two commissioners if the president is not willing to hold the meeting?” Moore asked.
Butler said in an interview after the meeting that the bill is necessary because of a leaked phone call between R.B. Walker, former director of state and federal governmental affairs for Alabama Power, and John Dodd, policy manager for Energy Alabama.
“The people of the state do not want their voice taken away. I do not want to take their voice away, and that’s why I came with this legislation, even while that other bill was still proceeding,” Butler said. “I looked at that, but it really was the phone call that outraged so many people that we started hearing from.”
Butler’s bill needs at least four days to pass. There are 11 days left in the 2026 regular session.
From Alabama Reflector Post Url: Visit
Author: Anna Barrett