The PSC member hopes the new constitution will not weaken regulatory agencies

BATON ROUGE — Public Utilities Commissioner Davante Lewis said Monday that handing over the regulatory role of his panel to others would be detrimental to the state’s utility customers.

In an interview with the Baton Rouge Press Club, Lewis said that as Louisiana discusses adopting a new constitution, he would like to make sure the Public Service Commission remains an independent body directly elected by the people.

“No offense to my dear friends in the Legislature, but I think we have bills specifying how much solar (energy) Entergy or CLECO can use, or bury it in here, I don’t think we should pay attention to the impact rate,” Lewis stated. “One of the things we always pay attention to is cost-benefit analysis. Is this a prudent investment?”

He said he was afraid of “dangerous bills that will not be passed correctly from the Commission’s regulatory point of view.”

“So the only thing I can tell them is to give the Commission a break if we rewrite the constitution,” he said.

Lawmakers considered establishing a constitutional convention for the summer, but that solution was not adopted. It’s still possible they’ll return to Baton Rouge to consider changes.

In his appearance before the Press Club, he also expressed concern about the impact that large data collection centers could have on the state’s power grid. According to the US Department of Energy, such centers, including those used for artificial intelligence, use 10 to 50 times more power than a normal office building.

“I am deeply concerned about the idea of ​​moving data centers and artificial intelligence centers to Louisiana. They consume a huge amount of energy,” he said. “They usually then make all of us aware of these costs, which could jeopardize our efforts to transition to more renewable energy here in the state.”