Public Comment 101: How To Make Your Voice Heard on Energy Issues in Kentucky
"I would tell people that your voice matters, and that you deserve to be heard, because you use energy and you pay for it."
Welcome back to Public Service Commission Week on The Goldenrod!
Yesterday, we talked to energy specialist Rachel Norton about how the Kentucky Public Service Commission (PSC) operates—and how much power they wield when it comes to the future of energy, the environment and climate change in the state. If you missed it, start here:
Today, we’re chatting with Amanda Fuller, executive director of the Kentucky Academy of Science, who is giving us a first-hand look into the PSC public commenting process and offering up advice for making the most effective energy-related comments. (And if you’re looking for an additional resource on public commenting at the PSC, this guide from Kentuckians for Energy Democracy is a great resource.)
Sarah Baird: Walk me through your experience giving comment to the PSC. How did you go about it, and what issues were you commenting on?
Amanda Fuller: In the past, I have contacted the Public Service Commission mostly about rate cases that come up for consideration, and those are instances where utility companies are asking permission to raise rates or make adjustments in the structure of utility rates for customers.
There have been a few other instances where I have advocated in general for renewable energy and more affordable energy for Kentuckians, and I’ve done that in writing and also at hearings, both in-person and virtual.
SB: Set the scene for us. What did these in-person and virtual hearings look like?
AF: There were quite a few people there! One that I remember going to locally [in-person] was downtown in Louisville. This was several years ago, and there were dozens of people who were all there to express their opinion about the utility’s proposal to raise rates. The virtual hearing that I remember going to also had dozens of people. I remember waiting for two or three hours for my turn to make a comment because there were so many people commenting.
SB: In your experience, what makes for a good comment? What sort of comments seem to resonate?
AF: I think people who speak from their own personal experience have a lot of impact, and I also think people who have some research, some numbers, some actual facts at hand can also make comments that are very impactful.
It's not necessary to really do a lot of your own research to make these kinds of comments because we have organizations that are already keeping abreast of issues and sharing some important facts and information. You can make a really informed comment just with the resources that those organizations are sharing.
SB: What were some of the biggest challenges you faced—logistical or otherwise—when commenting on PSC cases?
AF: I think just finding out about the cases is probably a challenge for a lot of people. I don't think that many people are aware when there are cases that come up before the Public Service Commission, so you have to really be hooked up with one of these organizations that follows energy cases. You also have to have the case number. You have to know the dates when the comment period is open, and I think those things are just not getting broadcast widely to the general public, so that’s a big obstacle that keeps more people from being involved in the process.
At the actual hearing, once I found out about it and was there, it was just a small inconvenience to wait my turn, but I also got to listen to other people’s comments, and that was really informative for me. In one of the cases, I did do some of my own research, and that I think helped me be more confident in my comments when I was speaking.
(The PSC website could really use a more streamlined, accessible refresh…)
SB: Walk me through one of the rate cases you were involved in. How did you prepare? What was the case all about?
AF: The requests that utility companies make to the Public Service Commission are about changing the rate structure, so what usually happens is that they are trying to raise the flat rate that every household gets charged monthly, and they’re wanting to either keep the same or maybe raise a little bit the rate that you pay per-kilowatt-hour.
What this means is that people who are small households—single people, older people who live alone, people who are good energy conservers, people who don't use a lot of energy—they're still paying the same amount monthly for that flat fee as somebody who has a really, really large house or who uses a lot of energy, so it's a structure that impacts poor people, lower-income people, and older people disproportionately. That’s inherently unfair in terms of the structure of energy costs.
It also disproportionately impacts people who are using renewable energy, and in turn, people like me who have solar panels on their house. We aren't actually consuming a lot of electricity from utility companies because we're generating our own, but we're still paying almost as much per month just for the privilege of being hooked up to the grid even though we're not consuming a lot. It really does penalize people who are either taking the initiative to try to use clean energy or who are just doing good conservation practices and not using a lot. This is the unfairness of the rate cases that typically come before the PSC, and those are the kinds of things that I make comments on.
SB: How could the PSC make the process more accessible?
AF: I think better outreach—better communication to the general public—would be really important. Better advertisement when there are rate cases so that utility customers know when their own utility company is asking to raise their rates. Most people don't even know, and then the rates might go up and take them by surprise.
I think translating the rate cases to plain language so that people can understand them is helpful. People who are energy nerds like me understand the rate structures, but most people don’t. Translating this to other languages would also be good because there are a lot of people in Kentucky for whom English is not their first language, and they are energy customers, too. I think that would be one thing to make the process more equitable.
I also think the Public Service Commission website could be easier to navigate. There’s a lot of information there, but people who aren't familiar with the PSC and the work that they do might have trouble and be confused when they get there about how to find information about a case. That website is not very user-friendly, unfortunately.
SB: If somebody wanted to give a comment, but they were nervous, what piece of advice would you give a first-time commenter?
AF: I would tell people that your voice matters, and that you deserve to be heard, because you use energy and you pay for it.
I would also tell people that even though it seems like it might be challenging or intimidating, once you participate in that process for the first time, you'll actually see that it’s easier than you think, and hopefully you’ll be encouraged because you will probably find that other people share the same concerns that you have. I would really encourage people to be a part of the process and stand up for what they think is fair.
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed.