Public Service Commissioner Mike Francis is set to hold a town hall in September. 

Public Service Commissioner Mike Francis will be holding a town hall meeting in New Iberia to address all questions and concerns from the public.

Francis, who represents New Iberia in the Public Service Commission, will hold the town hall at the Sliman Theater on Sept. 19 at 5:30 p.m.

Topics for the town hall will include recent utility rate increases as well as rooftop energy and solar.

The event comes at a town when many have been concerned about rates in utility fees in the Teche Area. The Louisiana Public Service Commission is the state entity that regulates utility companies in Louisiana.

Francis addressed the New Iberia City Council in November to discuss the rate hike for Cleco last November, and said during that meeting that the increase approved by the commission was the first increase the PSC has allowed in seven years.

“Cleco was sold to another group of investors seven years ago,” Francis said during that meeting. “One of the things that was promised was that we would make sure they would treat the customers right and they held off on having a price increase longer than they should have.”

Another issue that led to an increase was an increase in natural gas.

they charge smaller increases every year rather than have a large increase at once.

“We studied it for over a year and we felt like this was the best way,” Francis said at the meeting. “If we could have added a little bit every year we wouldn’t have had this shock.”

Utility companies like Cleco cannot raise their rates without the approval of the PSC, and Francis said each commissioner approved the hike after intensive analysis.

The topic of utility rate increases has been the topic of New Iberia City Council as well as Iberia Parish Council discussions over the past several months, with many members of the community lamenting the rate increases over the past several months.

The town hall meeting will be free and open to the public, and Francis will be fielding questions from the public regarding any questions.