Alabama’s New Utility Commission President Wants to Hear From ‘All Sides’ as She Assumes New Role – Inside Climate News

There aren’t many jobs in Alabama like president of the Public Service Commission. 

The state’s chief utility regulator is the head of a three-person council that sets rates and policies for the state’s electric, gas, telecommunications and other utilities.

If Alabama Power, the state’s largest electricity provider, wants to raise rates or build a new plant, the PSC has to sign off. Same if Spire wants to change gas rates or a new company wants to install fiber internet service. The commission, in some circumstances, also regulates taxis, buses, railroads, water utilities, trucking companies and wastewater systems.  

Now, for the first time since 2012, there’s a new boss at the sometimes under-the-radar utility commission. 

Cynthia Lee Almond, 60, was sworn in on June 16 as the new president of the PSC, leaving her seat in the Alabama House of Representatives to become the state’s top utility regulator. 

The new gig is a drastic change from Almond’s previous role, splitting time between the legislature and running her Tuscaloosa law firm, which specializes in estate planning, probate, real estate and business law. Before that, she spent 16 years on the Tuscaloosa City Council and worked as an assistant dean at the University of Alabama School of Law. 

In her first interview as PSC president, Almond told Inside Climate News she had a lot to learn about utility regulation.

“I will do my best to get in there and get educated and learn as much as I can so I can make informed decisions,” Almond said. “That’s a big part of it. You can’t make decisions about all this if you don’t really understand what it is, and you’re not born understanding this stuff.”

Almond was appointed by Gov. Kay Ivey to fill the seat vacated by Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh, who left the commission in May to accept a Trump administration job in the U.S. Department of Agriculture. 

Cavanaugh’s 12-year tenure leading the PSC was not without controversy. She and Commissioner Jeremy Oden rejected calls to hold formal rate hearings for Alabama Power, the state’s largest electricity provider, as utility commissions in most states do. 

The commission changed from using the industry-standard return on equity metric to gauge utility profit margins to a novel “weighted retail return” formula that makes comparisons to utilities in other states more complicated.

Under Cavanaugh’s leadership, the PSC approved a controversial fee for small-scale, rooftop solar projects that solar advocates say unfairly stifles the residential and commercial markets in the state. The fee is currently $5.41 per kilowatt of solar capacity per month. For a typical 5-kilowatt rooftop solar array, the fee adds $27 each month to the customer’s power bill, regardless of how much the panels produce. The legality of the fee is now being challenged in federal court. 

And the commission last year rejected efforts by environmental groups to intervene over fuel rates that Alabama Power charges its customers. Earlier this month, a Montgomery circuit court judge dismissed an appeal seeking to overturn the PSC’s decision.

David Hughes, a political science professor at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, said that a change in leadership at the PSC could provide room for some change in policy, though as a single member of a three-person commission, Almond won’t be able to make sweeping, unilateral changes. 

“The popular perception is that the PSC historically has been pretty favorable to groups like Alabama Power, and it’s not exactly a secret that Alabama doesn’t have the cheapest electricity rates,” Hughes said. “So people are going to be looking to this appointment to see what, if anything, changes.”

Almond said she planned to maintain the status quo at the commission—at least for now. 

“I want to start out continuing the practices, whatever’s been going on, let’s just keep doing that until we figure out if that’s a good thing, not a good thing, or we want to do something different,” Almond said. 

As to formal rate hearings for Alabama Power and other utilities, Almond declined to preview what her stance will be but said it was critical to strike the right balance between utility profit and keeping utilities affordable. 

“Our whole role is to be the interface between the public and the utilities,” she said. “Making sure people have affordable, reliable energy sources, and also, on the other hand, regulating the utilities and making sure they’re complying with the parameters that had already been set up for them, but also understanding that they need to remain solvent in order to provide us reliable and affordable energy.”

The Politics of Utility Regulation in Alabama

Utility rates have long been a contentious political issue in Alabama, and Cavanaugh’s tenure leading the PSC was no exception. 

Almond said she was a Republican and would run on a Republican ticket, but acknowledged that she may handle things differently than her predecessor, perhaps due to her legal background.

“I’m a fact gatherer, and one of my first challenges will be to educate myself on the energy industry,” she said. “I mean, it’s complicated, it’s very technical. And obviously I don’t have to be an expert in everything, but I do have a certain amount of learning to do on all the industries, and I’ll spend time doing that.”

She said that includes speaking with the utilities the PSC regulates, as well as environmental groups which are often critical of the PSC and regulated utilities. 

“There’s just a lot to learn at this point, and everybody’s offered to help educate me,” she said. “I think there’s nothing wrong with that, and just making sure we’re hearing from all different types is important.”

That message is a notable shift from the sentiment from her predecessor, Cavanaugh, towards environmental groups. 

In her first year as PSC President, Cavanaugh co-authored an op-ed published on the PSC website criticizing “environmental extremists” that she claimed had “waged a full frontal attack on coal-based energy production,” that would harm Alabama’s economy and increase energy prices.

When asked about the op-ed, Cavanaugh told The Birmingham News, “I want to exclude the environmentalists from taking part in the process [of setting utility rates].”

From 2012 on, PSC campaigns often echoed national politics—with candidates pledging to fight the Obama and Biden administrations, or support Donald Trump—as opposed to focusing on statewide issues like electricity rates.

Cavanaugh was chair of the Alabama Republican Party before being elected to the commission, whereas Almond is a relative newcomer to partisan politics. 

“On the city council, we did not run on a party ticket,” Almond said. “In Tuscaloosa, a pothole is not a Republican pothole or a Democratic pothole. It’s just a pothole.” The same could be said for Alabama power bills, which are frequently cited as being among the highest in the nation.

Almond received praise from across Alabama’s political spectrum when she was appointed by Ivey, a Republican, to the PSC post. 

“Cynthia has proven to be an extremely effective public servant and leader, and I am confident the people of Alabama will be even better served when she takes the helm at the Public Service Commission,” Ivey said in a news release. “Since 2021, I have been able to count on Cynthia to get real, meaningful work done in the Legislature, and while I know the people of Tuscaloosa will miss her representation in the State House, every person across this state will now benefit from her leadership on the Public Service Commission.”

Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox, a Democrat who lost to Ivey in Alabama’s 2018 gubernatorial election, said Almond was an excellent choice for PSC president. 

Maddox, who began his sixth term as mayor this year, said Almond played a pivotal role in the city’s growth during her 16 years on the city council, four as council president. 

“She was a key leader as we continued to grow Tuscaloosa,” Maddox said. “Ms. Almond is thoughtful, progressive and always bends to do the right thing. I think she’s a terrific choice.”

Maddox said that during his run for governor, he asked Almond to stay on for another term as council president so that she could step in as interim mayor if he won. 

“If I was fortunate enough to win, with Cynthia being the council president, I knew she would make a fantastic mayor,” Maddox said. 

Daniel Tait, executive director of clean energy advocacy group Energy Alabama, said he had not had any dealings with Almond yet, but had positive impressions so far. 

“It’s clear that she’s sharp,” Tait said. “She’s a lawyer by training, so it’s very good that she understands the law, she understands regulation. And that’s going to be a big gain to the expertise of the commission.”

Energy Alabama has been a frequent critic of the PSC under Cavanaugh, and was the group the commission blocked from intervening in the docket over Alabama Power’s fuel rates. 

“I don’t think that means we’re going to start magically winning everything at the commission, but I’m happy that there’ll be somebody who can listen to reason, well-reasoned arguments, and make a fair decision,” Tait said. “And I don’t think that means siding with Alabama Power every time.”

Almond to Split Time Between Tuscaloosa and Montgomery

Almond said she spoke with Cavanaugh after it was announced she would become the new president. 

“I just wanted to hear from her,” Almond said. “She’s been up there a while, so whatever she had to say, and she had a lot to say.”

Almond said the conversation was “very helpful.”

“I think it’s a mistake not to have some handoff from one administration to the other,” she said. “You don’t have to agree with everything somebody did or didn’t do, but you at least want to hear what it was.”

Alabama Power is also a major political player in the state. The company does not contribute directly to Public Service Commission candidates, but does invest widely in other elections. 

An ICN examination of campaign finance records did not show any direct contributions from Alabama Power to Almond. Almond said she’s not certain whether the company contributed to her campaigns for Tuscaloosa City Council or Alabama Legislature. 

“It’s quite possible, but I honestly don’t know,” Almond said. “But I’ve also taken a lot from individuals who have power bills.”

Leading the Public Service Commission will be the first time Almond is accountable to voters outside the Tuscaloosa area. 

District 63, which Almond represented in the Alabama House, fully encompasses the district she represented on the Tuscaloosa City Council for 16 years before joining the Legislature. Public Service Commissioners and the PSC president are elected statewide every four years with a salary of $114,639. 

“I’ve never run a statewide race before, so that’s kind of daunting, but there are people who have, so I just have to find the people that can help me,” she said. “I’m very excited about that. It’s something I was interested in, I was just trying to figure out what the right [statewide] role was, and I really think it’s worked out quite well.”

Almond grew up in Tuscaloosa and earned undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Alabama before moving to Decatur for her then-husband’s law practice. She worked in private practice for three years before taking a job at the University of Alabama School of Law’s office of advancement, where she rose to assistant dean over 12 years. 

She took time off to raise her two children in Tuscaloosa before founding Almond Attorneys, a small firm focused on estate planning, probate, real estate and business law, where she still works. 

After 16 years on the city council, Almond said she was encouraged to run for District 63 in the Alabama House in 2020. Bill Poole had resigned from the seat to become finance director for Ivey, who four years later nominated Almond for the PSC position. 

Almond said that during her four years in the legislature, she worked with Ivey’s office to advance legislation on affordable housing with an eye on workforce development, as well as a bill called the Colby Act, which provided means for adults with disabilities to enter into “supported decision-making” arrangements, a more flexible option that the strict guardianship relationship established in previous laws.

Almond’s close relationship with the governor’s office may have helped put her on the governor’s radar, Hughes said. 

“Appointments, historically, have been a way to reward allies or repay political debts: to make sure that your faction of the party has their hands on the levers of power.”

Almond and Ivey both represent the more centrist wing of the Republican Party, particularly among southern politicians, Hughes said. A scorecard of governors produced by the American Legislative Exchange Council, a conservative nonprofit, ranked Ivey 28th among state executives, behind even some conservative Democrats. Ivey, 80, who is barred from running for a third consecutive term, has also broken from GOP colleagues views’ on government appointments in her final term. Earlier this year, for example, Ivey ignored the suggestion of the state’s attorney general to reappoint his ally, Leigh Gwathney, as head of the state’s pardon and parole board. 

Gwathney had been widely criticized for voting to block paroles or pardons, even in cases where her fellow board members suggested they were warranted. That included voting against parole to a long-term care facility for an inmate who was quadriplegic and non-verbal. Under Gwathney, Alabama’s parole rate for eligible inmates fell from 55 percent in 2017 to 8 percent  in 2023, before rebounding to 20 percent last year. 

Almond’s appointment, then, could be another example of Ivey feeling more free to appoint politicians of her own ilk, particularly in light of her inability to run again for the state’s top office, Hughes said. 

During her time in the legislature, Almond also sponsored the House version of an updated Alabama Open Records Act, signed into law last year. The bill established timelines for government bodies to respond to open records requests, a glaring omission from the previous version.

Almond said the open records bill, like many Public Service Commission decisions, was about finding the right balance between competing interests. 

“People have a right to know and request [information], but at the same time, you want it to be reasonable and not too onerous on the people having to get the information to the point where it breaks the bank for them,” Almond said. “So there’s a balance there, but there needs to be a process, and that’s not too hard to do. 

“I’m just delighted we have a process and some parameters in place and some timelines and guidelines for everybody to know what they’re supposed to do.” 

Almond’s legislative record showed a willingness to reach across the political aisle, according to Hughes, who’s studied Alabama politics for years. One of Hughes’ analyses of the voting records of members of the Alabama House of Representatives concluded that during the latest legislative session, she was the second-most bipartisan member of the legislative body. 

Almond also broke from her party colleagues on occasion during her time in the statehouse. In 2023, she was the sole Republican vote against a bill that banned state contracts with entities that “boycott businesses because the business engages in certain sectors or does not meet certain environmental or corporate governance standards.” The anti-ESG legislation ultimately passed the legislature and was signed into law.

Almond said she plans to scale back, but not eliminate, her work at the law firm while working full time at the Commission. She said Alabama courts have made clear that commissioners can have outside income, but the PSC is intended to be a full-time, 40-hour-per-week job. 

“First of all, I’ll do whatever I need to do [for the PSC], and figure it out as we go,” she said at a conference room at her Tuscaloosa law office. “I’m withdrawing my personal involvement, not totally, but in large part, in my law firm. But I’ll work out of here.”

Almond said she plans to work on PSC business two days a week at the PSC offices in Montgomery and three from her law office in Tuscaloosa, in addition to the various travels around the state that the job entails.

She said she keeps an apartment in Montgomery from her time in the Legislature, and will make the roughly two-hour drive from Tuscaloosa as needed. 

“That’s what I hope will work, and I hope is the right thing to do,” she said.