Alabama Power has been billing its customers for the TV commercials and other ads that promote its own business, and the state agency that regulates the utility wants that practice stopped immediately. The Alabama Public Service Commission voted Nov. 3 to formally ask the company to voluntarily halt the charges rather than wait for a state law to force the issue in 2029.
Commission President Pushes for Immediate Action
PSC President Cynthia Lee Almond made the motion during Tuesday's meeting, asking the commission to request that Alabama Power exclude all advertising expenses from retail rate setting through Dec. 31, 2028, according to Inside Climate News. Almond said there was no reason to wait until Jan. 1, 2029 to begin excluding the costs, even though that is when the new law technically takes effect, per the same report. Commissioners Jeremy Oden and Chris Beeker IV both voted yes on the motion, which was not listed on the meeting's published agenda.
If Alabama Power agrees to the request, the change would show up in the company's Rate Stabilization and Equalization filings for 2027 and 2028, the outlet reports. Alabama Power did not immediately respond to a request for comment, according to Inside Climate News. The company is currently allowed to bill customers for half of its non-public-safety advertising costs, and it spent more than $6 million on general advertising last year — roughly $4 per customer — the outlet notes.
A Law Already on the Books, Just Not Yet in Effect
The push comes after state lawmakers passed a law earlier in 2026 that will bar Alabama Power from folding advertising costs into customer electric bills starting in 2029, Inside Climate News reports. Under that law, the company will have to fund its advertising out of corporate profits instead. Daniel Tait, executive director of Energy Alabama, told the outlet the commission's move benefits Alabama Power customers and said Alabama would have one of the nation's strongest customer protections on advertising cost recovery once it takes full effect.
Alabama Power is the state's largest electricity provider, serving territory that covers about two-thirds of Alabama, according to Inside Climate News. The company has faced ongoing criticism over rising electricity prices, and customers have dealt with some of the country's highest electric bills in recent years, the outlet notes.
Billing Fight Unfolds Amid Record Profits and a Rate Freeze
The advertising dispute lands against a broader backdrop of scrutiny over Alabama Power's finances. The company reported a $1.4 billion profit in 2024, nearly double the $712 million it earned in 2013, Inside Climate News reported in an earlier story. Among the 100 largest U.S. electric utilities examined by the outlet, none reported higher average total residential electric bills than Alabama Power that year, and its average residential rate of 16.77 cents per kilowatt-hour outpaced the national average of 16.48 cents, ranking 35th highest out of the 100 utilities reviewed.
An Alabama Power residential customer using 1,129 kilowatt-hours a month paid about $189, according to Inside Climate News — $58 more than a Louisiana customer using the same amount would have paid. The company's average residential rate of return on equity stood at 11 percent in 2023, compared with a national average of 9.74 percent approved for electric utilities in 2024 rate cases, per the same report.
In December 2025, the Public Service Commission approved a two-year rate freeze proposed by Alabama Power that postpones any rate increases until 2028, WBHM reported. That freeze preceded a 2026 utility reform bill sponsored by state Rep. Mack Butler that would have restricted how much Alabama Power could charge customers for advertising and lobbying; the Alabama House passed it 104-0 in March 2026, according to WBHM's reporting.
Bills Remain a Flashpoint Heading Into 2027
Alabama's residential electricity rate was 16.43 cents per kilowatt-hour in September 2025 — higher than neighboring states but still below the national average of 18.07 cents, AL.com reported. By June 2026, the average Alabama residential consumer was paying 16.5 cents per kilowatt-hour, according to federal data cited by AL.com. The issue became a flashpoint in the 2026 governor's race, with Tommy Tuberville calling for a four-year freeze on any electricity rate increases, the outlet reported.
The debate over who controls Alabama's utility oversight is also shifting. The Public Service Commission is set to expand from three to seven members in January 2027, with four new commissioners appointed by Gov. Kay Ivey taking office that month, including the commission's first two Black members. Oden and Beeker will both leave the commission in January 2027 after losing Republican primaries, with Matt Gentry taking Oden's seat and Jim Zeigler — who served one term on the commission from 1975 to 1979 — returning 48 years after he left it. Almond will remain the sole holdover from the current commission.
The expanded commission will also answer to Alabama's first secretary of energy, a position Tuberville will select and that will set the commission's agenda, with any override requiring a vote of five of the seven commissioners. The secretary must have experience in utility regulation, energy policy or a related field, though Tuberville has not yet announced his pick.
