39 Miss. Code. R. 1-30-100
Public utilities in Mississippi are capital intensive businesses that require millions of dollars of investment in capital and operations and maintenance costs each year to meet their obligation to serve Mississippi residents with essential services. These costs are then passed on to the utilities' customers through their rates. For the purpose of promoting economic development, creating jobs, and improving the communities served by the utilities, the Commission urges utilities to maximize, consistent with law, the use of goods, products, and materials produced in the State of Mississippi. This rule shall serve as a tool to encourage and measure public utility utilization of Mississippi resident contractors, subcontractors, vendors and businesses. This rule is created to foster utility engagement with potential Mississippi suppliers and contractors, providing ways to inform Mississippi companies of business opportunities. However, this rule shall not be interpreted to supersede any state statute, and nothing in this rule shall be construed to prevent a utility from choosing the lowest and best bidder for any project or interfering with the mandate to serve the ratepayers or adequately respond to emergencies or support outages.
This rule is promulgated pursuant to the authority of the Mississippi Public Service Commission (the "Commission") under Miss. Code Ann. §§ 77-3-45 and 77-3-16. The purpose of this rule is to apply to new contracts and projects of the utilities, and the provisions of this rule shall not apply to existing contracts and/or projects for which the competitive solicitation process has been initiated before the effective date of this rule.
39 Miss. Code. R. 1-30-100