Central District Public Service Commissioner Brent Bailey met with local residents Tuesday to give them an overview of the Mississippi Public Service Commission and answer questions about public utilities.

As Central District commissioner, Bailey represents 22 counties stretching from the Mississippi River to the Alabama/Mississippi line on the PSC Board.

Discussing the Public Service Commission’s duties, Bailey said the commission is charged with ensuring the rates, fees and charges that apply to customers for the service are just and reasonable and the service is reasonably adequate.

“Also, we ensure that any facilities that are constructed or acquired by the utilities offer the public yield necessity this year, that it enhances reliability, adds capacity and creates benefits for the system as well as ratepayers and the customers out there,” he said. “We answer complaints, we conduct investigations. We also hold formal and informal hearings depending on the level of issues as stated before. We do have complete regulatory jurisdiction over investor-owned natural gas and electric utilities in the state of Mississippi.”

Bailey said there are five investor-owned utilities: Entergy, Mississippi Power, Atmos, Center Point and Inspire, Entergy’s natural gas company.

Besides overseeing the investor-owned utilities, he said, the PSC oversees certain private water and sewer entities in the state.

“We’re seeing a large number of those here in Warren County,” he said. “Over the last year or so greatly, utilities have acquired several systems. They’re particularly sewer systems.”

Bailey also discussed the regulatory process and inspections of utilities, utility businesses and the PSC’s push to get industries to be more energy efficient. He also discussed the PSC’s work involving broadband expansion in the state and the challenges of getting people online.

He said the PSC encourages people to contact them about their concerns with utilities.

“We always want people to engage with us,” Bailey said. “The viewpoint they provide is always welcome. They’re helpful; make us better understand what’s going on. We also want folks to bring good data to us as well. How does it impact you, the economic data or information you provide?”

The comments, he said, help commissioners determine whether something will help the consumer and ensure sure it’s not adversely impacting rate-payers or just creates a system benefits across the entire rate base, “and that’s the kind of information we always look at.”