Living in Louisiana, frustration with utilities is par for the course: They’re expensive, they’re unreliable, and there’s minimal transparency in how they operate. When rates go up there’s not much to be done other than pay the bill or find yourself in a Kafkaesque labyrinth of indifferent, dead-end bureaucracy. When another gas plant goes up and increases emissions while threatening our air and water quality, it feels like there’s little recourse. They don’t call it Cancer Alley for nothing.
Years ago, when I first learned of the existence of the Public Service Commission, it felt like peeling back the curtain of Oz. Here, I found a group of officials whose job it is to regulate these utilities—and we elect them. These officials are constantly making decisions that shape—and threaten—each of our daily lives, and I’d never even heard of them. They operate in relative obscurity, so I made it my mission to demystify this quietly powerful government body.
So what is the Public Service Commission? They are a regulatory agency whose job is to “assur[e] safe, reliable and reasonably priced services are provided by the public utilities and common carriers subject to its jurisdiction.” They regulate our energy, water, gas, phones, and even towing companies, and are supposed to negotiate fair and safe usage of utilities for the people of Louisiana. Made up of five members who serve six-year terms, public service commissioners each represent more people than a congressman. And while these officials wield immense power, we do get to choose them—Louisiana is one of 10 states that actually elects the officials who oversee their utilities rather than via appointment.
Despite being elected by the public, it doesn’t always seem that the public is who they’re working for. Shockingly, the Public Service Commission is allowed to accept money from the utilities it regulates. Historically, it’s a legal and regular practice for commissioners running for office. A 2013 Fox 8 investigation found that over the course of the previous four years, of the “$1.5 million raised by commissioners, at least $1 million – about two-thirds – came from the regulated industries and interested parties, such as attorneys, lobbyists and consultants.” In 2022, the Louisiana Democratic Party funneled more than $90,000, according to DeSmog, from the utilities industry towards the fossil fuel-friendly candidate, who ended up losing to current District 3 Commissioner Davante Lewis.
Current Commissioner Eric Skrmetta has held the seat for District 1 since 2009. The only sitting commissioner who has held the seat longer is District 5 Commissioner Foster Campbell, who has been on the commission since 2003 before term limits were introduced in 2008. Commissioner Skrmetta recently accepted a position with the Trump Department of Energy, has accepted more than $150,000 in donations from the utilities he regulates and, as the Times-Picayune reported at the time, in 2014 asked for campaign support in exchange for lifting the cap on solar net-metering. Solar net-metering allows people to sell unused power from solar panels back to the grid, which is both cost-effective for rate-payers and environmentally friendly. Louisiana has enacted some of the strictest caps in the country.
In 2024, District 2 Commissioner Jean-Paul Coussan had campaign contributions from utilities companies such as Atmos Energy, America’s Electric Cooperatives, Baton Rouge Water Company, as well as $5,000 from Entergy. Bernhard Capital, who bought Entergy Louisiana and Entergy New Orleans’ gas systems in 2024, contributed “more than $200,000 in campaign contributions” to all five commissioners, as reported by the Louisiana Illuminator. That sale went through with unanimous approval.
LPSC District Map via lpsc.louisiana.gov
As Drew Hawkins reported, Entergy executives have also been ghostwriting PSC motions. In records obtained by The Gulf States Newsroom, “the native Word file of the motion, and its metadata — digital breadcrumbs that link a file to its original creator — lists Larry Hand, Entergy’s VP of regulatory and public affairs, as the author” of the motion to approve Entergy’s settlement to build infrastructure for Meta’s $50 billion data center.
Commissioner Davante Lewis won his seat in 2022 against incumbent Lambert Boissiere III on grassroots power and has been the lone dissenting vote on many of these decisions. He believes one of the most misunderstood facets of the job is that commissioners serve more as judges than they do legislators—and he believes in taking the impartiality that comes with the role seriously. “I have a duty to not be arbitrary and capricious and allow all sides due process to make their arguments,” he told me.
Recently, though, these deals have been coming to the commission practically done. In these large-scale deals, Lewis says, “Oftentimes, the commission is the last place to know. I will use SpaceX: SpaceX has made their announcement and no utility has told us they are building or needing anything to serve SpaceX.” That deal, which was secured through a series of controversial NDAs, grants SpaceX a “125,000-acre, $100 billion rocket launch facility on Louisiana’s coastline” which will allegedly fire “about 30 rockets per day.” Some experts doubt these estimations, however.
Lewis says that once these deals make it to the commission, the tax agreements, zoning, and land usage have usually already been promised. In the case of Meta and SpaceX, public officials have made these deals with little to no public input, signing NDAs surrounding the projects altogether. As Hawkins reported for WWNO, “Elected officials signing NDAs is a new and emerging practice in Louisiana under the Landry administration.” These NDAs ensure that once the deal is public, it’s essentially a done deal.
These companies then approach the commission asking for energy from the utilities, and the commission’s job is to assess whether what they’re asking for is fair, safe, and cost-effective for everyone who lives in the state. “My job is not to tell you whether a data center can come here or not… I’m only evaluating the investments that the utility is saying they need to make to serve their customer,” says Lewis.
But in these recent fast-tracked deals, especially surrounding Meta, the burden of proof has seemed to be much lower. As reported by Nola.com, on August 12 in a 3-1 vote, with Commissioner Lewis being the dissenting vote, the commission “overrode a judge’s recommendation that the tech giant should provide the information” about how many jobs the project would create and how much power it would require. The only way to make a fair decision is to hear all of the facts and data presented, but many of the commissioners appear unconcerned with due process.
Logan Burke, executive director of the Alliance for Affordable Energy—a nonprofit dedicated to protecting the rights of residents and consumers for fair rates and a safe environment—believes that the Republican strongholds at the state and federal levels are influencing these recent pushes.
“There is a clear impact from outside the commission on decisions that the commission is making, and decisions that the utilities are making, even the requests that they’re making,” she says. Under Governor Jeff Landry, coastal restoration projects have been canceled, climate change lawsuits have been curtailed, and he has filled his team with oil and gas connections. Nationally, the Trump administration has withdrawn from the Paris Agreement, expanded coal mining, and is looking to eliminate rules that curb greenhouse gas emissions. These political frameworks ensure no reason for utility companies to look for safer, renewable energy sources.
“Louisiana is gonna have a really hard time when the cost of gas goes up,” says Burke. “And not if, because it will.”
Once a contract is awarded, it’s difficult to alter, making these hasty decisions especially hazardous. “The majority of our decisions are long-term,” explains Lewis. “If we agree to let [a utility company] do something, they’re allowed to continue doing it until it is considered paid for, or if we find that they are imprudent.” Lewis says that finding these companies “imprudent” is a “very hard bar to meet because you have to showcase that people knowingly made a wrong decision.” This means that there is a real imperative to get it right the first time. As our coast and natural resources disappear, we have no time to waste on bad decisions.
In December 2025, the Public Service Commission passed a “lightning directive” that has fast-tracked large projects. The directive, which was described as “Governor Landry’s Louisiana Lightning Speed Initiative” in meeting notes, sets an eight-month target for approvals of certain large-scale projects, allowing the projects to bypass some procedures such as the standard bidding process, where companies prove the long-term safety and efficacy of their projects. In August, the Alliance for Affordable Energy requested that the PSC withdraw this initiative, saying that it was voted on unconstitutionally “without adequate notice of the proposed rule change and without any opportunity for the public to submit feedback,” both of which are required by the Louisiana Constitution.
Through this lightning directive, Meta, in conjunction with Entergy, was allowed to propose seven new gas plants to power their AI data centers with a vote tentatively slated for December.
“Almost every month until December there are billions of dollars on the table,” says Burke. And while it’s expected that the biggest ticket items will be decided on in December, Burke notes that the commission has the authority to change the schedule and approve something whenever they decide to, so approvals for these projects could be made as early as October.
There is concern, too, that the long-term cost of these additional plants and projects for rate-payers remains unclear. SB490 would create private-use electrical networks for industrial customers and allow utility companies to extract themselves from the grid, generate their own power, and “sell up to 50% of power they generate.” These grids would “not be deemed a public utility” and therefore “not subject to Louisiana Public Service Commission (LPSC) regulation” because they would serve and be operated by a single commercial customer. Consumer Energy Alliance raised concerns about the bill, saying it “could create a patch-work of disconnected power that would add layers of complexity without offering price savings for consumers” and could end up raising customer rates by “more than $16 per month.” Without proper safeguards, it could mean that costs get shifted to rate-payers down the line if utility companies decide to abandon their grids.
“There’s a wave coming and industrials are looking for a way out,” says Burke. In the Meta deal, Mark Zuckerberg’s way out was crafting an exit years before other partners, and ensuring that if “Meta exit[s] its lease early for other reasons and pay[s] high penalties for doing so, Entergy and its customers could wind up saddled with higher costs,” according to the New York Times.
Not all data centers are created alike. As Lewis notes, “I think there’s a big misnomer around data centers. There have been data centers in the country for years. There are data centers who are not these giant hyperscalers who need the utilities to build things for them that they may not pay for.” These data centers power things like the hardware and drives for local hospitals and 911 centers.
Burke repeatedly stresses that it isn’t simply data centers that are driving this push—it’s AI data centers. “If the current trajectory of AI demand continues on the rate that it is on over the next four to five years… the only things that’s going to be able to manage the reliability of the grid, the safety of the system, and the costs are going to be things that happen on the demand side,” she says. This includes energy efficiency programs, distributed solar, distributed batteries, and demand response programs which offer incentives for voluntarily reducing energy use during high demand times. In December 2025, New Orleans invested $28 million in a distributed energy resource program that will “place hundreds of solar-tied batteries across the city,” while in March the PSC approved five demand response programs, including programs for smart thermostats, electric vehicle charging, and battery storage.
New Orleans is in the unique position of directly regulating utilities within the city, which gives our local government far more control than many parishes in the state. But the decisions of the Public Service Commission still affect us greatly. Burke says that local governments have a responsibility to intervene at the Public Service Commission, whether that be through an association, direct participation, or speaking directly to the media. “Something that has worked in Jefferson Parish is simply elected officials in that parish speaking to the media about how raggedy their grid is, and calling out the Public Service Commission.”
The people of Louisiana are far too familiar with having to overcorrect for the actions of environmentally destructive corporations. Like vampires, these companies are welcomed in with the express invitation of our government and allowed to feast on our environment, wreak havoc on the grid, and suck the land dry. Meanwhile, those of us building families and livelihoods here are forced to dodge the attacks to our land and well-being, armed with our scrappy, makeshift armor. It’s unjust and unfair, and Burke says, “I imagine it will mean that people are gonna get pretty upset when they understand just how much of it is not just data centers, but AI in particular.”
Ask a random person on the street about their utilities, chances are they’ll express dissatisfaction in one way or another. Whether it be cost, reliability, or safety concerns, there are myriad complaints from myriad demographics. This, in a way, is a good thing—it means there is common ground across lines that often otherwise feel uncrossable. “A lot of people don’t realize the power of talking to their family,” says Burke. “Their family who they may disagree with on lots of other political issues.”
On November 3, we have another election, and Eric Skrmetta’s and Foster Campbell’s seats are up for grabs. The Public Service Commission is an independent regulatory agency and therefore does not answer to the legislature or to the governor—it answers to the voters. But showing up to cast a vote isn’t enough. Commissioners can hold their seat for up to 18 years, and they require our diligent attention for the entirety of their tenure.
illustrations by Sadie Wiese
