Meridian and Lauderdale County residents were given an inside look at what Mississippi’s Public Service Commission is tasked with and an opportunity to share their frustrations about utility services on Tuesday as Meridian Mayor Jimmie Smith and PSC Central District Commissioner Brent Bailey held a community forum at Union Station.

The Public Service Commission, Bailey said, is tasked with regulating utilities throughout the state to make sure the costs for services are reasonable and that the services provided are adequate, Bailey said. The commission works with utility companies such as Mississippi Power, Atmos Energy and East Mississippi Electric Power Association to address customer complaints and resolve any shortcomings in the utility’s service.

“We want to understand that anything utilities build or acquire is in the public interest and helps in increasing reliability,” he said. “We also answer complaints, do investigations and hold certain hearings, formal and informal hearings.”

Some of the main initiatives under the PSC include energy efficiency programs, utility infrastructure reviews to make sure the state’s network of utilities is robust enough to withstand severe weather, managing the 811 program, where residents can call to have underground utility lines marked before digging and more.

Following the June storms, in which multiple rounds of straight line winds and tornadoes pummeled infrastructure across the state, Bailey said the PSC worked to address issues that cropped up with some providers’ emergency response plans and make sure proper resources were being deployed to get services restored as quickly as possible.

“June 2023 set the record for the most tornadoes ever in the month of June in the history of the National Weather Service. It set a record for the state of Mississippi,” he said. “We had 80 mph straight line winds coming down from Vicksburg all the way down I-20 into Meridian, gusting up to 90 mph. Those are stronger winds than when Hurricane Katrina came through and when it moved through this part of rural, central Mississippi.”

Mississippi Power alone reported 115 poles and 70 transformers that were damaged and had to be replaced after the storms, and 370 spans of wire that had fallen, Bailey said. Entergy, which provides service to the western half of the state, reported more damage in June than it had for the entirety of 2022.

The effort to restore services had some challenges, Bailey said, but the PSC and utility providers worked through them and have identified areas in the storm response plans that could use some extra work. The PSC and those providers are currently doing just that, he said.

In addition to learning about the commission, residents were also able to ask questions and voice concerns about utility services in Meridian and the surrounding areas. A group of people from the annexed area in North Meridian known as Precinct 1C, which includes Eagle Point, Briarwood and The Meadows subdivisions, took the opportunity to draw attention to the lack of city utilities that were promised during the annexation process.

When moving to annex the area in 2008, city officials promised residents access to the city’s water and sewer infrastructure as well as police and fire protection. In the 15 years since, those services have yet to reach the annexed homes.

Residents also claim flooding in the area has become more severe and more common since the city became responsible for maintaining the storm drainage infrastructure in their neighborhoods.

Smith said he understood residents’ frustrations but did not immediately have a solution to offer.

If the city is unable to fulfill its promises, one resident said, the right thing to do is to let the neighborhoods separate from the city and be outside the city limits again.

Municipal utilities are different than investor-owned or rural cooperative utilities such as Mississippi Power and EMEPA, Bailey said. The PSC does not have the same power over city-owned systems as it does the others.

By law, the PSC can intervene on behalf of residents receiving municipal utility services who live more than one mile outside the city limits. The PSC does not have regulatory power over services provided inside the city limits or outside the city limits but less than one mile from the line, Bailey said.

“I think for Meridian they all have like eight water customers beyond one mile and like maybe 11 sewer customers,” he said. “So it’s really a handful of customers that we represent on the Meridian system that are served outside of that one mile boundary.”

Although he may not have regulatory power over the situation in the annexed area, Bailey said he is more than happy to do some research and talk with both residents and city officials to see if there is a way to lessen or resolve the problems.

The PSC’s work is often behind the scenes, Bailey said, but all three commissioners, representing the North, Central and Southern districts, want to hear residents’ thoughts or concerns and value outside input. Central District residents can contact Bailey’s office by email at brent.bailey@psc.ms.gov, by phone at 800-356-6320 or visit psc.ms.gov/central/commissioner. Bailey can also be reached through social media, including Facebook, X and Instagram.