Ex-Public Service Commissioner Dunn seeks return to office

Former Public Service Commissioner Terry Dunn, who drew political pushback after fighting for a review of power rates, said Friday that he is seeking a return to office.

Dunn said he will challenge PSC President Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh in the 2016 election. Both Dunn and Cavanaugh are Republicans.

Dunn, 56, says the utility regulating board needs more transparency and someone who will look out for consumers. He called Cavanaugh a “spin maiden” in his candidate announcement.

“The president now looks out more for the utilities than the customers,” Dunn said.

Cavanaugh, through a spokesman, declined to comment on Dunn’s announcement.

Dunn was elected to the commission in 2010 and had urged the group to hold periodic formal hearings on the rates charged by Alabama Power and natural gas companies. He said that would ensure power company profit margins and rates were justified.

The two other PSC commissioners and all the Republicans who challenged Dunn in the last election disagreed with his position. He lost re-election to former Greene County Commission Chairman Chip Beeker in 2014.

The former PSC commissioner said he was subjected to a false information campaign – accused of being a Republican in name only or on the side of environmentalists – after seeking those hearings.

“The people now see that all the lies told about me were a ploy to unseat me,” Dunn said in a statement announcing his campaign.

He lost re-election to former Greene County Commission Chairman Chip Beeker in 2014.

Republished with permission of The Associated Press.