Sunday, September 14, 2025
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
  • Terms & Conditions
Environmental Magazine
Advertisement
  • Home
  • News
  • Climate Change
  • Energy
  • Recycling
  • Air
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Water
No Result
View All Result
Environmental Magazine
  • Home
  • News
  • Climate Change
  • Energy
  • Recycling
  • Air
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Water
No Result
View All Result
Environmental Magazine
No Result
View All Result
Home Fossil Fuels

Fight Over Alabama Electricity Fuel Costs Heads to Court

December 13, 2024
in Fossil Fuels
A A

Environmental advocates are turning to the courts to get access to fuel cost negotiations between the Alabama Public Service Commission and the state’s largest electricity provider, Alabama Power. 

Energy Alabama, a nonprofit clean energy advocacy organization, has filed an appeal with the Montgomery County Circuit Court after the Public Service Commission twice rejected its motions to intervene in the docket that determines how much Alabama Power customers pay for fuel. 

The legal argument centers around the definition of the word “proceeding.”

Alabama law allows anyone impacted by the decisions of the commission to intervene in “any proceeding” of the state’s elected utility regulator. 

But the elected board has twice rejected attempts by Energy Alabama to intervene in the fuel cost docket, arguing that adjusting the rate customers pay for fuel did not “establish a proceeding as that term is used in [the Alabama code].”

Daniel Tait, executive director of Energy Alabama, said the process prevents the public from having any involvement or influence in how the commission sets fuel rates that show up on customers’ bills. 

“The commission repeatedly adjusts Alabama Power’s fuel prices without allowing any public involvement,” Tait said in a news release. “In other states, advocates can meaningfully participate in fuel cost proceedings and have successfully advocated for reduced rates. We can’t fight for lower rates in Alabama if we don’t have a seat at the table.”

By the commission’s definition, there hasn’t been an official proceeding on fuel cost rates since 2008. The Southern Environmental Law Center, which represents Energy Alabama, said the fuel rate has been adjusted 18 times since then, with no mechanism for public participation. 

“Alabamians pay some of the highest energy bills in the nation, and those bills include the cost for fuel,” Christina Tidwell, a senior attorney in SELC’s Alabama office, said in a news release. “Instead of allowing Alabama Power customers and interested parties to participate in the decision-making process, the commission is shutting them out.” 

In Alabama, rather than holding formal hearings to determine how much electricity customers pay for fuel costs, the utility submits monthly reports to the commission reporting its use of coal, natural gas and nuclear material. The commission then adjusts the fuel rate up or down depending on how much the utility has spent and collected for fuel. 

Alabama Power does not earn a profit from money spent on fuel, as it does from other portions of the bill. 

Consumer advocates often criticize the commission for a lack of transparency and accountability in keeping the utility in check. Alabama has the highest residential electric rates in the Southeast, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. 

The appeal was filed Tuesday night.

A commission spokesman told Inside Climate News earlier this week that the commission “does not comment on matters that are, or could be, subject to litigation.”

Tidwell said the commission should comply with the provisions in Alabama law guaranteeing the right to public participation. 

“These rules have been on the books for decades,” Tidwell said. “The commission needs to start abiding by them.”

About This Story

Perhaps you noticed: This story, like all the news we publish, is free to read. That’s because Inside Climate News is a 501c3 nonprofit organization. We do not charge a subscription fee, lock our news behind a paywall, or clutter our website with ads. We make our news on climate and the environment freely available to you and anyone who wants it.

That’s not all. We also share our news for free with scores of other media organizations around the country. Many of them can’t afford to do environmental journalism of their own. We’ve built bureaus from coast to coast to report local stories, collaborate with local newsrooms and co-publish articles so that this vital work is shared as widely as possible.

Two of us launched ICN in 2007. Six years later we earned a Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting, and now we run the oldest and largest dedicated climate newsroom in the nation. We tell the story in all its complexity. We hold polluters accountable. We expose environmental injustice. We debunk misinformation. We scrutinize solutions and inspire action.

Donations from readers like you fund every aspect of what we do. If you don’t already, will you support our ongoing work, our reporting on the biggest crisis facing our planet, and help us reach even more readers in more places?

Please take a moment to make a tax-deductible donation. Every one of them makes a difference.

Thank you,

Dennis Pillion

Reporter, Alabama

Dennis Pillion is a reporter for Inside Climate News based in Alabama. He joined ICN in 2024 after 17 years working for Alabama Media Group, including nine as the statewide natural resources reporter. His work for AL.com and The Birmingham News, won numerous Green Eyeshade and Alabama Press Association awards for his coverage of environmental issues in Alabama. He was born and lives in Birmingham, Ala.

ShareTweetSharePinSendShare

Related Articles

Fossil Fuels

As Congress Takes a New Swing at Bipartisan Permitting Reform, Environmental Groups Are Calling Foul

September 13, 2025
Fossil Fuels

House Republicans’ Use of Little-Known Law to Strike Down Public Land Plans Could Be Pandora’s Box Moment

September 12, 2025
Fossil Fuels

Trump Administration Moves to Dismantle Conservation as an Official Use of Public Lands

September 10, 2025
Fossil Fuels

World’s Largest Fossil Fuel and Cement Producers Are Responsible for About Half the Intensity of Recent Heat Waves, New Study Shows

September 10, 2025
Fossil Fuels

Top US Energy Official Lobbies for Fossil Fuels in Europe

September 9, 2025
Fossil Fuels

Two Pennsylvania Towns Seek Public Funding for Water Systems Amid Claims That Gas Industry Contaminated Wells

September 9, 2025

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recommended

Shrinking saltmarshes threaten climate progress, but recovery is possible

June 18, 2025

Action urged over climate change’s impact on hydropower and wildlife

January 22, 2025

Don't miss it

Energy

Department of Energy Allocates $134 million for Fusion Funding

September 11, 2025
Energy

Utility-Scale Solar Can Withstand Severe Hailstorms. Here’s How

September 11, 2025
Energy

Solar Power Gave the Formerly Incarcerated Hope in NJ. Federal Cuts Are Taking it Back

September 11, 2025
Air

Beyond the filter: what’s happening in industrial air pollution management?

September 11, 2025
Water

Mussels-and-sensors solution anticipates appearance of toxic algal blooms

September 10, 2025
Air

Londoners’ air pollution drops by a quarter at weekends, say new data

September 10, 2025
Environmental Magazine

Environmental Magazine, Latest News, Opinions, Analysis Environmental Magazine. Follow us for more news about Enviroment and climate change from all around the world.

Learn more

Sections

  • Activism
  • Air
  • Climate Change
  • Energy
  • Fossil Fuels
  • News
  • Uncategorized
  • Water

Topics

Activism Air Climate Change Energy Fossil Fuels News Uncategorized Water

Recent News

As Congress Takes a New Swing at Bipartisan Permitting Reform, Environmental Groups Are Calling Foul

September 13, 2025

House Republicans’ Use of Little-Known Law to Strike Down Public Land Plans Could Be Pandora’s Box Moment

September 12, 2025

© 2023 Environmental Magazine. All rights reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Climate Change
  • Energy
  • Recycling
  • Air
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Water

© 2023 Environmental Magazine. All rights reserved.

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.