Kemper photo from Wikipedia
(Prepared by Thomas O. Baldwin)
Thomas (Tom) Blanton and his attorney, Michael Adelman of Hattiesburg, MS have filed a Petition for Writ of Mandamus with the Mississippi Supreme Court for actions to stop the “new” rate increases of 18% which the Public Service Commission approved on August 13. Two of the three members of the PSC approved those rate increases in spite of the recent Miss. Supreme Court’s decision to order that Miss. Power give refunds to customers for the past two years for charges which were deemed illegal to collect. The Supreme Court also ordered that the current rates be decreased by 18% and the new rates be effective on August 20. Refunds must be paid by early December 2015 in the form of cash or bill credit.
The incredible thing was that Miss. Power then requested another 18% rate increase to account for their “financial emergency” and said they were running out of cash. For anyone who hasn’t followed this closely they must be terribly confused and wondering “Who’s on First?” But the facts are fairly straight forward and the history of this saga is outlined quite well in the document below. Miss. Power is now suffering from having made huge mistakes in the decision to build a “Clean Coal” Power Plant in Kemper, County. That bad decision has led to huge cost overuns of nearly 4 billion dollars (3 times the intital estimates of just over 2 billion), construction problems and construction delays. The coal “gasifiers” are not yet operational and even worse, cannot be guaranteed to work at this level of commercial operation. In the meantime, the credit ratings of Miss. Power by companies like Moody’s have been significantly lowered to near “junk bond” status causing problems for Miss. Power to borrow additional money except at very high interest rates.
In light of this mess created by the PSC bending over backward to assist Miss. Power and ignore the customers, Tom Blanton is continuing his efforts to put a stop to this incredible incompetence and corporate–government cooperation in continuing to abuse Miss. Power customers. He and his attorney have filed a Petition to the Supreme Court for the following actions:
“WHEREFORE PREMISES CONSIDERED, Petitioner prays that the Mississippi Supreme grant the following relief:
- Enter a Writ of Mandamus staying the Public Service Commission’s Order of August 13, 2015, including but not limited to the 18% rate increase granted to Mississippi Power Company.
- Enter a Writ of Mandamus prohibiting the Mississippi Public Service Commission from considering any rate increases until there has been a finding of prudence regarding construction of Kemper IGCC.
- Enter a Writ of Mandamus compelling the Public Service Commission to require Mississippi Power Company to give its customers notice pursuant to the Supreme Court’s decision and to cease filing confidential exhibits.
- Enter appropriate sanctions for the Commission’s willful, wanton and contumacious failure to follow the mandate of the Supreme Court’s June 11, 2015 decision.”
Below is the complete document in Word format (converted from the original pdf file). There may be minor changes in formatting but the text is the same. This is reproduced by permission of Thomas Blanton. For additional information please contact Mr. Blanton’s attorney Mr. Adelman at the addresses given at the end of this document. Mr. Blanton can also be reached at:
Thomas A. Blanton, Phone: 601-543-5363 email: tomblanton4psc@gmail.com
His Facebook page for his candidacy is: Tom Blanton for Public Service Commissioner Southern District
______________________________________________________________________________________
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI
IN RE: THOMAS A. BLANTON
Case NO: 2015-M-1253
OFFICIALLY FILED AND STAMPED ON AUGUST 21 BY THE CLERK OF THE SUPREME COURT, COURT OF APPEALS.
_______________________________________________________________________________
PETITION FOR WRIT OF MANDAMUS
_______________________________________________________________________________
COMES NOW THOMAS A. BLANTON, Petitioner, and moves the Mississippi Supreme Court, pursuant to. Rule 21 of the Mississippi Rules of Appellate Procedure, for a Writ of Mandamus requiring the Mississippi Public Service Commission to implement the Supreme Court’s decision in Mississippi Power Company, Inc. v. Mississippi Public Service Commission and Thomas. A. Blanton, No. 2012-UR-01108 Consolidated with Thomas A. Blanton v. Mississippi Power Company, Inc. and Mississippi Public Service Commission, No.2012-UR- 00477, and in support of this Petition, Thomas A. Blanton would state as follows:
- On February 12, 2012 this Court entered its initial Opinion in the above- consolidated matters. Both Mississippi Power Company and the Mississippi Public Service Commission filed Motions for Rehearing which were denied by the Supreme Court on June 11, 2015 on which date the Supreme Court also entered its revised Opinion in this matter. ,As a result of said Opinion the Court ordered that Mississippi Public Service Commission fix the rate as it was prior to March 5, 2013; refund the 18% rate increase to Mississippi Power Company customers; and grant no further rate increases until there is full compliance with the Court’s decision.
(MOTION# 2015 3753)
- The Court’s mandate issued on July 2,
- On May 15, 2015, Mississippi Power Company filed .Notice of Intent of Mississippi Power Company for a Change in Rates Supported By Conventional Rate Filing Or, In the Alternative, By A Rate Mitigation Plan in Connection With the Kemper IGCC Project, assigned by the Public Service Commission as Docket No. 2015-UN-80, Exhibit A, requesting three alternative rate proposals.
- In its Notice of lntent, Mississippi Power Company readily states: “Allthree of these cumulative rate impacts include the 18% retail rate adjustment already inplace ” (Exhibit A, page 4.) (Emphasis supplied.) Mississippi Power Company filed itsthree (3) tier rate increase request after the Supreme Court’s original decision in Blanton and after Mississippi Power Company and the Commission filed their Motions for Rehearing. However, the Supreme Court denied both Motions for Rehearing on June 11, 2015, iss.uing a revised decision which again mandated that the 18% rate increase be eliminated and Mississippi Power Company’s original rates be returned to what they were immediately prior to the Commission’s March 5, 2013 Order.
- Blanton filed both aMotion for Stay and Motion to Dismiss with the Public Service Commission based on the fact that the Commission has not implemented this Court’s mandate. (Exhibits B and C) These motions were filed in response to Mississippi Power Company’s May 15, 2015 filing. Of particular concern is the fact that Mississippi Power Company has proposed three alternative rate increases all of which include the 18% per cent rate increase. Further, the gasification plant at Kemper is not fully constructed and Mississippi Power continues to request rate increases for what the company calls “pre-commercial operation rate relief ‘(Exhibit A, page 3) or in its own words “advanced stage of construction” (Exhibit A, page 3) costs, despite the fact that there has been no hearing regarding prudence and despite the fact that the Kemper plant· is stiU not operational as a gasification plant. Itpresently is in operation as a gas fired natural gas facility only. In short, Mississippi Power Company is still seeking Construction Work in Progress (CWIP), but calling it another name. A duck is still a duck, even if you call it a “turkey.” This is still another brazen attempt by Mississippi Power Company to ignore the Supreme Court’s June 11, 2015 Opinion.
- On July 7, 2015, the Public Service Commission entered its Order on Remand (Exhibit D) pursuant to the Supreme Court’s June 11, 2015 decision, requiring Mississippi Power Company to cease charging the 18% as of July 20, 2015 and to provide a refund plan, with refunds to be paid or credited to the customer’s account (at customer’s option) by No-y-ember, Blanton had no problem with the Commission’s July- 7, 2015 Order or the Commission’s August 6, 2015 Order accepting Mississippi Power’s refund plan with some modification. Under the present refund plan, customers of Mississippi Power Company should have their refunds by early December, 2015.
- However, on July 10, 2015 Mississippi Power Company filed its fourth request for a Kemper rate increase seeking an increase of approximately 18% based on Kemper’ s operation as a natural gas faciity. (See Mississippi Power Company’s First Supplemental Filing, Exhibit E.) This rate increase is the essence of a shell game with Mississippi Power Company attempting to replace its loss of the March 5, 2013 18% rate increase with an interim rate increase of 18% . By approving the new 18% rate the Commission and Mississippi Power Company are in flagrant violation of the Supreme Court’s June, 2015 decision.
- On July 14, 2015, Blanton filed his Motion to Deny Interim Rates (Exhibit F) in which he argued that the so-called “interim rates” was a ruse by which Mississippi Power Company was seeking to substitute a new 18% per cent rate increase for the March 5, 2013 18% rate increase. He also filed a Supplement (Exhibit G) on July 23, 2015 in which he argued that Mississippi Power Company had failed to comply with the Notice provisions required by the Supreme Court’s June 11, 2015 Mississippi Power Company has not given its customers notice so that they may be heard on the request for interim rates.
- On August 13, 2015, the Commission al?proved Mississippi Power’s request for an 18% interim rate increase under bond, to be effective August 20, 2015. See Temporary Rate Order, dated August 13, 2015 (Exhibit H). The Commission has also scheduled a hearing on November 10, 2015, at which time it will consider prudency. This means the 18% rate was eliminated for only one billing cycle and reinstated without any underlying finding of prudence:’ This is truly a shell game. As noted supra, much of this money will be used for the ongoing construction of the gasification plant at Kemper. The only basis for granting the interim rate increase is that according to Mississippi Power Company, it has a desperate need for money. The company claims it is going broke and blames its perilous financial circumstances on the Supreme Court’s decision, never taking full responsibility for its massive miscalculation regarding Kemper IGCC. Further, the Public Service Commission was unwilling to stand up to the Southern Company – Mississippi Power Company’s sole and only stockholder — and its threat that no further funds would be provided to Mississippi Power Company without an interim rate increase.
- The fact that the 18% rate increase is temporary and granted subject to refund and under bond does not eliminate the Commission’s failure to follow the Mississippi Supreme Court’s Mandate in Blanton. Similar provisions were allegedly in place under “Mirror CWIP,” but ultimately allowing the rate increase even subject to refund places the burden on.the ratepayers. Customers pay the money. If a refund is ordered, some customers will have moved and will be unable to be located, some will have died, and ultimately the refund scenario will never fully compensate all of the ratepayers. Rather than follow its present course and grant a temporary rate increase, some of which will obviously be used to complete construction of Kemper IGCC, the Commission should hold a prudency hearing and determine, based on the outcome of that hearing, what rate increases, if any, are appropriate.
- It should also be noted that despite the Supreme Court’s harsh criticism of Mississippi Power Company’s practice of filing confidential, secret documents with the Commission, see Paragraph 23 of Blanton, Mississippi Power Company continues to file confidential exhibits and did so in support of both its May 15, 2015 Notice oflntent and its July 1O, 2015 request for an 18% interim and permanent rate The original permit file remains sealed. How can a “prudency” review and hearing be decided in an open public forum while the underlying file remains sealed. Paragraph 23 of Blanton.
- Finally, this Court should direct the Public Service Commission to rescind the August 13, 2015 interim rate increase and disallow any rate increase by Mississippi Power Company until there has been a prudence finding as required by this Court’s June 11, 2015 decision. See Paragraph 13, Blanton. The Commission violates the Supreme Court’s decision in the following respects:
a.) The Order reinstates the 18% rate increase;
b.) The rate increase pays for Construction Work in Progress ‘;Vithout a predicate finding of prudence;
c.) Mississippi Power Company’s notice to its customers is inadequate;
d.) Mississippi Power Company continues to file confidential exhibits.
- Once again, the Commission has failed to do its work and has failed to heed the mandate of the Supreme Court.
WHEREFORE PREMISES CONSIDERED, Petitioner prays that the Mississippi Supreme grant the following relief:
- Enter a Writ of Mandamus staying the Public Service Commission’s Order of August 13, 2015, including but not limited to the 18% rate increase granted to Mississippi Power Company.
- Enter a Writ of Mandamus prohibiting the Mississippi Public Service Commission from considering any rate increases until there has been a finding of prudence regarding construction of Kemper IGCC.
- Enter a Writ of Mandamus compelling the Public Service Commission to require Mississippi Power Company to give its customers notice pursuant to the Supreme Court’s decision and to cease filing confidential exhibits.
- Enter appropriate sanctions for the Commission’s willful, wanton and contumacious failure to follow the mandate of the Supreme Court’s June 11, 2015 decision. RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED, this the 19th day of August, A.D.,
THOMAS A. BLANTON
MICHAEL ADELMAN, ESQUIRE ADELMAN & STEEN, L.L.P.
POST OFFICE BOX 368 HATTIESBURG, MS 39403-0368
(601) 544-8291; (601) 544-1421 (FAX)
EMAIL: adelst33@aol.com MS STATE BAR NO. 1153
ATTORNEY FOR THOMAS A. BLANTON
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Clay Chandler, 
Progressive Voice Activists--Mississippi Edition 