When you think of Mississippi’s Public Service Commission, your thoughts turn first to utilities.
While the three-member commission does indeed serve as an advocate for Mississippians to ensure access to utilities at fair rates, Brandon Presley says the PSC’s role in expanding the reach of high-speed Internet service is a vital part of its mission.
“High-speed Internet is the electricity of the 21st century,” said Presley, now in his third term as Northern District Commission and his first term as PSC Chairman during his Tuesday appearance before the Columbus Rotary Club at Lion Hills Center. “No matter where they live, the people of Mississippi have a right to have high-speed Internet. It’s not about Facebook or whatever else you might enjoy doing on the Internet. It’s about access to services and in the world we live in now, not having access to high-speed Internet service means not having access to critical services.
“It’s a quality of life issue. It’s an education issue,” he added.
Presley said the PSC has relied on returns from the service fees collected by the state from phone customers — about $60 million per year — to build a $280 million fund. That money helps provide incentives to carriers who are reluctant to extend high-speed Internet to sparsely populated and isolated rural areas throughout Mississippi.
He compared that effort to TVA’s success in bringing electricity to the area in the 1930s.
Likewise, Presley said the PSC is in strong support of developing alternate sources of power, including solar power and natural gas.
“We have 10,000 miles of natural gas pipelines in Mississippi, the fifth most of any state,” he said. “Yet, for many rural areas, there is no access to natural gas, which happens to be, right now, one of the cheapest energy sources available. It’s sad, really, that we have a real advantage over most states that we simply aren’t taking advantage of. So extending natural gas service in those rural areas is very important, especially to poor folks. When you think about heating your home in the winter time, that’s a cost of living. And if we can give people access to natural gas, they may be able to cut their power bill by 30-40 percent. That’s no small thing.”
“It’s not about being against any one kind of power,” he said. “It’s about giving people access to what’s available. The way I see it, everything the Governor has access to in the Governor’s Mansion in Jackson is something every person in the state of Mississippi should have access to.”
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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