Georgia’s ‘accidental regulator’ joins watchdog group

The utility commissioner once dubbed Georgia’s “accidental regulator” finished up her first and only term Tuesday.

Georgia Public Service Commissioner Angela Speir said goodbye after a low-key final meeting marked by not one public farewell from her fellow commissioners.

Special / JOHN AMIS

Angela Speir speaks during a Georgia Public Service Commission meeting in 2006.

PROFILE: ANGELA SPEIR
Age: 40
Family: Husband Michael Phelps
Education: B.S., Agnes Scott
Election to PSC: 2002
Previous Job: Management, staffing firm
Signature issue at PSC: Ex Parte limits on communications between regulators and regulated.
Other issues: Affordable green power, lower rates, limits on power cutoffs during heat waves.

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A few minutes later, she announced what’s next: For the utilities and regulators she often criticized, Speir isn’t going away.

Speir is going to Georgia’s leading consumer organization, Georgia Watch.

As both a deputy and a senior director there, she will spearhead a new program dedicated to consumer energy policies in particular. The group said the program will analyze and develop positions on legislative and regulatory proposals that affect utility pricing, energy efficiency and renewable energy.

“There’s no more knowledgeable and respected advocate on utility issues in the state,” said Georgia Watch’s executive director, Allison Wall.

“We’re excited to have her experience and expertise on board.”

As senior director of a new consumer energy program, Speir said she would have wide latitude.

“Now more than ever,” she said, “I am looking forward to being an advocate for consumers in this state.”

Speir, a Republican, didn’t seek reelection to the PSC this year after six high-profile years on the agency.

Her successor, Lauren McDonald, will take his seat at the dais Jan. 6, effectively closing a circle: When Speir won her seat in 2002, it was McDonald she beat.

Speir won her seat at the age of 34 and with no background in political office.

She beat McDonald, then a Democrat, despite having a fraction of his political backing or money.

In interviews, she credited her victory to doorknocking and prayer. Her critics called it an electoral fluke: Republicans won all over the state in 2002.

Speir’s fellow commissioners — with one exception — were dismissive of her at first, brushing by her comments and lecturing her on how things get done in regulatory circles. By the end of her first PSC year, though, Speir had become a commissioner to be reckoned with, establishing herself as the commission’s most outspoken advocate for consumers.

She made a fetish of independence.

She didn’t do lunch — or dinner or golf or Braves games or trips — with utility lobbyists and lawyers, according to public filings. She didn’t take utility-related campaign money either: In six years, Speir raised a little more than $20,000 in campaign money.

Combining dogged research and a knack for sound bites, Speir positioned herself as an opponent to what she saw as utility overreaching at the PSC and a defender of consumers of all sizes.

Speir fought Georgia Power when it wanted to charge premium “green” rates for power that wasn’t green. She fought AGL over lavish public relations spending tied to an environmental clean-up. She fought both on the size of rate increase requests, opposed quick settlements with rule violators and opposed contracts awarded without bids.

She had one ally, fellow Republican Robert Baker.

Her most reliable opponents were commissioners Doug Everett and Stan Wise: The latter accused Speir of “populist pandering” at the expense of her regulatory duties.

Speir’s signature battle was over the way the commission conducts business.

In the final two years of her six-year term, Speir successfully pushed through a rule limiting private conversations between commissioners and those with cases pending at the PSC — conversations that are restricted in most states.

In her final meeting Tuesday, the self-described “Christian lady” called her opportunity to serve on the PSC a “blessing and an honor.”

She thanked her husband for putting up with her long hours.

“I ask that God will bless you all,” she said.”My prayer is that the Almighty will guide you all.”

Then the meeting ended.

The PSC dais microphones stayed on.

“Yippee,” Speir said.