NEW ORLEANS — A regulatory body in Louisiana that makes decisions regarding your utilities and bills has recently gained national attention. Davante Lewis won Saturday's runoff election for the Public Service Commission. With 59 percent of the votes, the 30-year-old progressive policy advocate defeated 3-term incumbent Lambert Boissiere.
The Public Service Commission is responsible for regulating utilities and setting electric rates. Lewis will represent the River parishes from Baton Rouge to Orleans Parish. He does not oversee Entergy New Orleans though, that's the city council's job. Lewis said his goal is to hold utility companies like Entergy accountable.
"I'm going to ask tough questions. I'm not going to be an easy vote for Entergy or Cleco when they want a new fee assessed on your bills. They are going to have to prove to me it’s needed and the investments are actually being made in our communities," Lewis said.
Major utility companies and outside political action committees poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into the race. It's gained the attention of environmentalists who want the commission to focus on climate change. Even actor Mark Ruffalo tweeted his support for Lewis last month.
"We need to start talking about resiliency and hardening our grid. I think this is with the investment in solar and wind that can be used to keep power up. I think the other thing I’ll be very focused on is we don’t talk enough about late fees on utility bills. Louisianians pay more than the national average in late fees per customer," Lewis said.
Also a Democrat, Boissiere sat on the commission for 18 years.
"I pushed for solar and renewable energy from my very first day and to see it finally becoming affordable and possible is really a joy," Boissiere said.
He blames his runoff loss to Lewis on out of state organizations who he believes are influenced by national agendas.
"What I said during the campaign, it was performance over promise. He's promising everything I've done, everything I've worked for, but again when you have the dark money that comes in, advertising can sway peoples votes," Boissiere said.
Lewis is the first openly gay candidate elected to state office, according to the LGBTQ Victory Fund.
"For me this race was just about our issues but I didn’t shy away from who I am as a person," Lewis said.
Lewis joins another Democrat and three Republicans to make up the five member commission.