BATON ROUGE - The Louisiana Public Service Commission voted 3-2 to halt the state's energy efficiency program, which aimed to reduce power waste in order to save customers money.

Commissioners Eric Skrmetta, Jean-Paul P. Coussan, and Mike Francis voted to end the program while Davante Lewis and Foster Campbell voted against the motion to end the program.

The vote was previously delayed to May, but it was amended to the agenda Monday. Lewis, the District Three Commissioner, told WBRZ this issue has been debated at the commission for the last 13 years prior to the PSC enacting the program in April 2024.

The program was supposed to overhaul the PSC's energy-efficiency program in a bid to increase savings and deliver more benefits to residents. It included setting annual energy reduction targets for utilities like Entergy, Cleco, and Swepco, and hiring a Baton Rouge company, APTIM, as a third-party administrator.

The plan sought to reduce energy use by 0.4% in its first year, increasing to 0.5% annually over the four years that follow. Critics, like Commissioner and Vice-Chairman Eric Skrmetta, worried that the statewide program could actually drive up costs.

Lewis publicly criticized how the vote was introduced.

"To add this to the agenda last second and not even wait a month for the data says something," Lewis said. "Who are they really working for?"