Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley has issued the following statement regarding electric service to medical marijuana facilities where the Tennessee Valley Authority is the wholesale provider of electricity to local power companies:
“Much confusion has ensued in the past week due to a statement sent out by the Tennessee Valley Authority intimating that local electric utilities who buy power from the TVA would not be able to provide electricity to a licensed medical marijuana facility due to possible conflicts with federal law. TVA’s statement has already caused some medical marijuana facilities to look at other areas of the state and therefore possibly denying North Mississippians the benefits of the newly passed medical marijuana program. It is a long-held principle in state law that electric utilities have an obligation to serve customers without discrimination. A licensed medical marijuana facility under Mississippi law is no different. It is my position that any licensed medical marijuana facility should be served with electricity upon application and request. Once power is delivered by the TVA to a local utility, TVA’s oversight ends and controlling state law and Public Service Commission statutes ensure that these facilities should be served with electricity like any other licensed business.”
