Tuscumbia attorney Brent Woodall officially qualified Friday with the Alabama Republican Party to run for Alabama Public Service Commission Place 2. Woodall is challenging the appointed PSC Commissioner Chris Beeker.
“The commissioners of the Alabama Public Service Commission have failed to carry out the agency’s mission of balancing the interests of regulated companies and consumers to ensure safe, adequate, and reliable services at affordable rates. This failure is evident in reports indicating that Alabama has the third-highest utility bills in the nation and the highest rates in the Southeast. I question the Commission’s response to these findings, noting that the PSC voted to freeze rates at their current levels,” said Woodall.
“Freezing rates at historically high levels does not equate to providing affordable utility services for consumers,” Woodall said. “This is the result of a commissioner who lacks both experience and commitment to the responsibilities of the office, and whose primary concern appears to be receiving a paycheck rather than serving the public. We need conservative leadership at the Public Service Commission.”
Woodall, a lifelong conservative, criticized the current Place 2 commissioner, stating that he was appointed without prior experience at the Public Service Commission after his father resigned the seat. “I have four years of experience at the PSC, that is more experience than the current commissioner has today,” Woodall added.
He concluded by emphasizing the need for a Place 2 commissioner who will work just as diligently on behalf of ratepayers as for utility companies. “Alabama deserves a commissioner who will actively do the job, not simply collect a paycheck.”
Brent Woodall has served as an assistant attorney general and an assistant United States attorney and as the chief of staff for a commissioner at the Alabama Public Service Commission. He and his wife, Marie, and their children, Hannah and Daniel, live in Colbert County.
The Republican primary is Tuesday, May 19.
