The Louisiana Public Service Commission (LPSC) has voted 3-2 to establish an independent statewide energy efficiency program.  It wasn’t without “testy exchanges,” the Louisiana Illuminator reported.

The reforms will solve a conflict of interest that has been hampering the LPSC’s energy efficiency efforts for the last decade, according to Together Louisiana, a grassroots organization that highlighted the program’s failures for the past ten years in a Tuesday press briefing. Among those are “rate-payers being charged $39 million in ghost recovery charges for energy they did not use, no requirement to measure whether energy savings are real and the program serves less than 0.5 percent of the state’s energy customers.”

“Finally, our state’s residents can look forward to energy savings and lower bills as a result of the Public Service Commission’s historic vote today,” said Jodie Manale, a leader with Together Louisiana. “For too long the program meant to save energy has been administered by the companies that sell energy – the fox has been guarding the henhouse. Now that conflict of interest has been eliminated.”

The third-party administrator will hold investor-owned utilities Entergy Louisiana, Central Louisiana Electric Company (CLECO) and Southwestern Electric Power Company (SWEPCO) accountable and stop them from charging customers for power they don’t use which can show up on bills as and energy efficiency fee, “Rider EECR-QS” and “Rider EECR-PE.”

Craig Greene Foster Campbell of Bossier City and Davanté Lewis of Baton Rouge, voted for the new standards. Eric Skrmetta of Metairie and Mike Francis of Crowley, voted against it.

Mike Francis is the PSC for the district that includes the Lake Charles area. He voted against the reforms. He describes himself as a conservative. “We’ve got a good program,” he said. “I’m proud of what we’ve done in this district.”Francis said one project that has been accomplished is spending $3 million to replace the lights in public schools. The payback is three to four years, he said.

In response to feedback that “poor people and those struggling to pay their bills needed more help,” he noted that Louisiana rates are low, the fourth lowest in the nation, compared to other states.

“Our rates are lower than Texas and our neighboring states. That’s because of our work with the investor-owned companies,” he said, “work that has been going on long before I got here.”

He claimed that instead of paying a new management team, that money could be used to make people’s homes more energy efficient.

Erin Hansen, Together Louisiana, said do not expect immediate change. It will take two years to roll out the program.