The recent bribery and fraud case involving Canton Municipal Utilities is yet another mess begging the question - what should be done to better monitor municipal energy systems and find faults before catastrophic consequences?
When basic infrastructure systems like energy, roads, water or sewer are degraded or fail due to mismanagement, citizens are the ones left holding the bag and suffering the consequences through poor service and higher bills. The most egregious example of municipal energy system failure is in Holly Springs, where a city operated electric distribution system supplies electricity to city residents and to residents over a vast area outside of the city. After many years of neglected maintenance and upkeep, presumably from unqualified management and misallocation of resources, the system is in a catastrophic state of disrepair with too many problems to address at once. Its customers are the ones who suffer through prolonged, frequent power outages and living on a more dangerous system in risk of collapse. Also, what business wants to invest in a community that can't keep the power on? Maybe more scary for Holly Springs Utility customers is the question of 'Who will pay the millions it will take to get the system into a decent, reliable operating condition?' No one outside the system wants to bear those costs, and the costs appear too great to be covered by its existing customers. The conundrum is similar to the current condition of the Jackson water and sewer systems. It's hard to imagine costs for Holly Springs customers not rising sharply to fix the myriad problems.Like the Jackson water and sewer systems, deterioration happened over many years of poor management and neglect. While water and sewer systems are typically publicly owned and operated, energy distribution systems are typically owned/operated by dedicated energy companies or special purpose entities like cooperatives, but across Mississippi, there are a handful of city-owned systems distributing electricity and gas to their residents. Failures in Holly Springs, while extreme, may be indication of more system failures ahead for Mississippians. What might be done to detect problems early, before they get out of hand?
For starters, annual audits should be conducted by the MS Public Service Commission and MS Public Utilities Staff to assess basic things like management competency, revenue collection, allocation of revenues, expense verifications, etc. for the simple purpose of finding infections before they fester into full-blown diseases. The Legislature should grant this authority to the PSC, who has been more engaged on the Holly Springs fiasco recently but only after the Legislature provided special authority in 2024 when it was too late. If more general oversight authority had been in place 20 years ago, this crisis may have been averted. Customers on Holly Springs, Canton or any system should want to know, are my electric bill payments being properly used to cover system costs and reinvest in the long-term health of the system or not? In some cases, like Holly Springs, it may well be that a portion of revenues collected from electric bills go to cover city expenses unrelated to the electric system while system maintenance was being neglected.In Mississippi, we elect Public Service Commissioners to be the watchdog over essential utility services, but they can't do that for everyone if there are blind spots in areas like municipal energy systems. The Legislature should give them the authority to look into the money and management of those systems closely. No one enjoys an audit but....for the systems that are managed well and thriving, this would only be another set of helpful eyes. For the systems with problems on the horizon, this would be one way to prevent hardship and suffering that come with the failure of utility systems. There should never be another Holly Springs situation.
Mississippi Energy Institute Patrick Sullivan authored this post.
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15 comments:
Patrick Sullivan didn’t “author” this. He *wrote* it. “Author” is a noun, not a verb.
Mr. Sullivan is also semiliterate, as he demonstrated in his very first sentence that he doesn’t know what “begging the question” means.
“Begging the question” is a logical fallacy that uses circular logic.
Mr. Sullivan means “raises the question,” not “begs the question.” It’s a common mistake among the intellectually insecure.
I bet @5:37 PM is a real hit at parties 🙄 /s
@5:37 PM - Did you run out of midol?
5:37 according to the Cambridge English Dictionary, "author" is most certainly a verb. It can be used as both a noun and a verb.
@ 5:37 - Your post contains numerous English composition mistakes, assuming a mistake can be based on ignorance.
Patrick Sullivan's anonymous stalker emerges from the shadows.
These one-horse towns have no business being in the electricity/natural gas business, let alone having police departments with fewer than 10 officers. It just amounts to creating little empires and padding some pockets.
I have lived in Canton since the late 50's. CMU was a top tier municipal services provider. However, things have changed over the years and this is no longer the case. The men and women out in the field now doing the work are not the ones to be blamed.
The CMU board and those managing the day to day business do not have the faintest clue how to run a utility services provider. There may be one or two people between the board and CMU management have have some utilities experience. Then there are the Blackmons that now have their hooks in CMU and have had for quite a while.
With the mega site blowing, going and growing CMU may turn around and get some competent management and hopefully the board will gain some members that have utilities experience.
Now, the Grammar Nazi can have a field day with my post.
I totally agree with 7:39. While you get what you vote for, our founding fathers, with all their faults, could never, under any circumstances, imagine a country and its subdivisions run by people that are totally inept and unqualified to even be the town dog catcher. And when these inept and unqualified people get elected, who do they hire and put in positions of authority? Their equally inept and unqualified friends, family and supporters. What could possibly go wrong?
Grammar, in your sentence, should not be capitalized. Spellcheck *does* capitalize Nazi.
" (W)hat should be done to better monitor municipal energy systems and find faults before catastrophic consequences?"
The answer to the begged-question is found in the post at 8:18.
Consider the Jackson International Airport Board....Same question - Same answer.
9:11, it has been happening every day in Madison county . Two men run the board of supervisors. Both black and with the help of the turncoat Steen they get what ever they want.
Well just slam your purse on the table and tell us more
Donna...is that you?
Amazon is here! their datacenter need 187 GIGAWATTS of power by 2035. We need more service providers! I personally want to get into the nuclear business. It seems like a win-win if i can get a few modular reactors with a loan from the state and feds. Then get a sweet & fat contract with AWS. The modular reactors need minimal service for their designed life.
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