OK Senate PSC bill

The restructuring of South Carolina's Public Service Commission, in the hands of House-Senate negotiators, should be decided before the legislative session ends. Among the two plans under consideration, the bipartisan Senate proposal, sponsored by Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston, and Thomas Moore, D-Aiken, is by far the best.

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It is serious reform that calls for PSC candidates to have a college education and to demonstrate in competency tests that they have the expertise to deal with the complex economic and technological issues the commission must deal with. The McConnell-Moore bill also provides for the PSC staff, which researches and makes recommendations, to operate more independently, not to be so subject to pressures from their bosses or the firms the PSC regulates.

PSC's decisions vitally impact what utility ratepayers are charged for electricity, natural gas and telecommunications. The problem with the current PSC structure is that because the legislature appoints PSC members, the selection process is highly politicized - rife with nepotism, cronyism and incompetence.

The House bill does virtually nothing to curb nepotism and in terms of education and experience, it requires only that PSC candidates be high-school graduates. The Senate bill provides for a competent, professional PSC whose seven members would know what they're doing; in other words, a Public Service Commission South Carolinians can have confidence in.

If the Senate's reforms aren't reflected in the final legislation, then the reform effort will have failed.

--From the Tuesday, June 3, 2003 printed edition of the Augusta Chronicle