S.C. utility regulator has ‘a new beginning’

After a two-year delay of elections, the S.C. Public Service Commission has mostly new members today.

State lawmakers on Wednesday elected four new commissioners and re-elected three incumbents for the PSC, which regulates utilities that serve homes and businesses in South Carolina.

Elections had been delayed as the Senate pushed for tougher qualifications for commissioners. A new law passed in February.

PSC chairwoman Mignon L. Clyburn, re-elected without opposition, said new commissioners plus the new PSC reform law equal “a very dynamic year” ahead for utility regulation.

“It’s a new beginning,” she said. “We will comply with the new law, and we look forward to doing our jobs.”

The reforms, passed after years of scrutiny of the PSC, help ensure commissioners are better qualified and less likely to be biased by private talks with utilities.

The seven members, who will make about $78,000 a year, were chosen during a joint session of the state Legislature. They will set utility prices and address consumer complaints.

“We have a good new commission coming on board,” said Rep. Harry Cato, chairman of the House Labor, Commerce and Industry Committee. “I think they’ll do well under the new procedures.”

With the addition of Elizabeth B. “Lib” Fleming, two women will serve on the commission.

Clyburn, the only African-American and only other woman on the newly elected commission, said that the last time two women served simultaneously was 1990.

However, William Saunders, the PSC’s only black man, announced his retirement right before the election. That drew concern from black lawmakers that the PSC might not adequately represent minorities.

“This is not about quotas, but about fundamental fairness,” said state Rep. Jerry Govan, D-Orangeburg, chairman of the S.C. Legislative Black Caucus.

Discussing his retirement, Saunders said, “The votes were not there for me to win.”

Govan also expressed regret that Clyburn is among three PSC members whose terms last only two years, instead of four, because the reform law now requires staggering of terms.

Clyburn said she favors the staggered terms, which are meant to promote stability. Starting in 2006, all commissioners’ terms will last four years.

The newcomers are eager to start work:

• Fleming said, “I’m very interested in economic development and quality of life.” She said her experience on the Spartanburg City Council showed utilities relate importantly to those topics.

• John E. “Butch” Howard, who worked 15 years in the trucking industry, said he can help the PSC with one of its lesser-known duties, regulating hazardous-waste trucking.

• G. O’Neal Hamilton, ex-utility chairman for Bennettsville, said he is “a voice for rural people.”

• David A. Wright, a former member of the General Assembly, said he probably would spend his first months learning PSC processes from Clyburn and other incumbents. “My whole bent as a conservative is to foster competition and lower prices,” Wright said.

Reach McWilliams at (803) 771-8308 or jmcwilliams@thestate.com.