At their last meeting, Public Service commissioners Stan Wise and Doug Everett sided with a gas marketer wanting to investigate PSC staff investigators.

But on Tuesday, after coming under fire for accepting gifts from SCANA Energy, the two men joined three other commissioners in voting 5-0 to restrict the company's access to staff members and their records during an ongoing probe.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Tuesday that Wise and Everett received hockey tickets and other gifts from representatives of SCANA and another natural gas marketer, Georgia Natural Gas.

The gifts were not illegal, but they raised questions about whether the two were too cozy with the companies they regulate.

Wise said ethics pressure did not influence his vote.

"Attack journalism meant to sway my vote by running the same day as a decision will not influence me one way or another, and neither will ho-hum hockey tickets," Wise said in a letter to the AJC that he read aloud at the PSC meeting.

SCANA and GNG have been accused of improperly charging different prices for their standard variable-rate plans. As a result, existing customers ended up paying more than new customers.

The PSC last month approved a $2.5 million settlement with GNG in the form of $25 credits to affected customers. SCANA said it did not do anything wrong and plans to fight the issue at a hearing scheduled for May 20.

Tuesday's vote denied SCANA's request to interview the agency's consumer-affairs staff before the hearing.

SCANA's request to question staff members has fueled an ongoing tension among the commissioners, their staff and the natural gas marketers. Wise and Everett have complained the consumer-affairs staff was unfair to the marketers and did not inform the commissioners soon enough that the companies were being investigated.

Though SCANA won't be able to question the PSC staff, the company may be able to get its information anyhow. The company has filed an extensive open-records request asking for, among other things, any documents and correspondence -- including e-mails, receipts and handwritten notes -- about PSC staffers' probe into SCANA's business practices.

Wise also has asked PSC staff to provide any correspondence with commissioners and the media regarding the variable-rate issue.

Immediately after the Tuesday vote, Wise asked Clare McGuire, a natural gas analyst on the consumer-affairs staff, whether she knew if the information he had received had also been passed on to SCANA attorneys and the AJC.

"I am not aware of what was supplied to the plaintiff's attorney or to the AJC," she said. "It seems like a pretty routine request."

Wise repeated the question.

"I can't answer that," McGuire said.

"I understand," said Wise, dropping the subject.