The Tennessee Public Utility Commission (TPUC) is the
Tennessee
Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...
governmental unit charged with the responsibility of setting rates and service standards for privately owned
telephone
A telephone is a telecommunications device that permits two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most efficiently the human voice, into e ...
,
natural gas
Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...
,
electric
Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by ...
, and
water
Water (chemical formula ) is an Inorganic compound, inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living ...
utilities
A public utility company (usually just utility) is an organization that maintains the infrastructure for a public service (often also providing a service using that infrastructure). Public utilities are subject to forms of public control and ...
.
History
The Tennessee Regulatory Authority (TRA) was established on July 1, 1996, following the shutdown of the
Tennessee Public Service Commission
The Tennessee Public Service Commission, also called Tennessee Railroad and Public Utilities Commission, was a three-member elected body which regulated private utilities, trucking firms, and railroads within the U.S. state of Tennessee. It was di ...
.
When established, the TRA was headed by three directors, with the
governor
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
,
lieutenant governor, and speaker of the
Tennessee House of Representatives each appointing one director. The initial directors were
H. Lynn Greer, Jr.,
Sara P. Kyle, and
Melvin J. Malone. In 2002 a fourth director was added by the
Tennessee General Assembly, to be appointed by joint agreement among the governor, lieutenant governor, and speaker of the House. Each director serves a six-year term. After 2008 the terms were required to be staggered.
In 2012, Governor
Bill Haslam
William Edward Haslam (; born August 23, 1958) is an American billionaire businessman and politician who served as the 49th governor of Tennessee from 2011 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, Haslam previously served as the 67th mayor of ...
proposed to eliminate the full-time TRA board, replacing the four-member board with a board of five part-time members to be appointed by the governor and legislature, plus a full-time paid executive director. On May 1, 2012, both houses of the General Assembly gave final approval to a bill to implement Haslam's plan.
A principal rationale for the change was cost savings, as proponents said the TRA workload was not sufficient to justify the salaries for a full-time board; annual savings were estimated at $300,000. Opposition to the proposal centered on concern that it would weaken regulation of public utilities.
Sara Kyle, one of the directors, resigned in protest at the changes, saying that "The present administration changed it to part-time, with the commissioners only working one day a month. They need full-time service."
In 2017, Governor Haslam proposed and the General Assembly passed legislation renaming the TRA to the Tennessee Public Utility Commission, bringing it in line with national standards and counterparts in other states.
Leadership
The current Executive Director of the TPUC is Earl Taylor. He was appointed Executive Director by Speaker Harwell, Governor Haslam, and Lt. Governor Ron Ramsey in 2012 and reappointed by the Commission in 2018 to another three year term.
See also
*
Public Utilities Commission
References
External links
Tennessee Regulatory AuthorityTennessee Regulatory Authority
in the Tennessee Blue Book The ''Tennessee Blue Book'' is an official government manual for the U.S. state of Tennessee, published by the Secretary of State of Tennessee.
The ''Blue Book'' is typically published on a biennial basis. Its contents include details on the organ ...
* Janice Beecher (Michigan State University)
The All Commissioners List
- List of all persons who had ever served as members of U.S. federal and state public utilities regulatory agencies through 2007
State agencies of Tennessee
1996 establishments in Tennessee
Government agencies established in 1996
Public utilities commissions of the United States
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