The PSC's responsibility was expanded in 1920 to include regulating and setting rates that utility companies charge their customers for electricity.
[1] The Alabama Public Service Commission is composed of three elected members, a President and two associate commissioners.
Recent Associate Commissioner Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh was elected to the Presidency of the PSC on November 6, 2012, when she defeated one term incumbent Democrat Lucy Baxley.
She had previously served as both Executive Director and later was elected as the first female Chair of the Alabama Republican Party.
The seat that Cavanaugh vacated for the PSC Presidency was filled for the remainder of her term by an appointee by Governor Robert J. Bentley.
In July 2014, Cavanaugh called on the people of Alabama to pray for God's intervention to prevent the EPA's proposed regulations for coal-power plants from taking effect, stating that the EPA was attempting to take "what God's given a state" from the people of Alabama.
[4] Commissioner Chip Beeker was elected in 2014 when he defeated incumbent Republican Terry Dunn in the GOP primary runoff on July 15, 2014.
Sometimes, the commission served as a stepping stone to run for higher offices in the state, although not always successfully.
In 2018, Commission President Twinkle Cavanaugh ran an unsuccessful campaign for the Republican nomination for Lt.
He is a vocal opponent of what he terms "wasteful government spending" and a critic of Governor Robert Bentley.
Two commissioners were convicted of felony offenses while serving and were automatically removed from office—Juanita McDaniel and Kenneth "Bozo" Hammond.
Hammond, Lynn Greer, and Pete Matthews all had previously served in the Alabama Legislature as Democrats and a fourth, Jeremy Oden, was a Republican state legislator at the time of his appointment.