Energy Regulation and Utilities
The Fishman Haygood team is led by attorneys with decades of experience handling contested regulatory matters.
Fishman Haygood’s Energy Regulation and Utilities practice group advises clients on consequential energy regulation and administrative litigation matters across the energy and natural gas sector. The team has extensive experience handling contested regulatory matters before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the Louisiana Public Service Commission (LPSC), and in the judicial arena, including Louisiana state courts, federal district and appellate courts, and the United States Supreme Court.
Clients look to our team for experienced counsel on regulation under the Federal Power Act, the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act, and FERC regulations implementing those statutes. With the group’s experience in a wide range of energy issues, both those facing the industry and its consumers, clients benefit from a full range of services, including the siting, construction and certification of generating units; utility ratemaking, rate design and cost allocation; utility transactions and financing; and the development of energy policy at state and federal levels. Our attorneys also advise on legal and strategic issues related to Regional Transmission Organization (RTO) participation, generation expansion, rate regulation, and related litigation.
Significantly, the team recently represented Louisiana Public Service Commission staff in regulatory proceedings to consider approval of the electric generation and transmission investment needed to serve a $10 billion Meta data center, among the largest infrastructure investments in Louisiana history. In these accelerated proceedings, the team addressed issues like resource certification, rate recovery, and renewable energy acquisitions, helping to develop a template for future proceedings that balances utility service obligations, economic development, and consumer protections.
As matters necessitate, the Energy Regulation and Utilities team works closely with lawyers across the firm, including colleagues in Appellate, Energy Transition, and Mergers and Acquisitions, to provide focused, senior-level support without unnecessary layering. This approach allows the firm to deliver efficient, coordinated solutions to complex regulatory and litigation challenges.
Partners Dana Shelton and Noel Darce are ranked Band 1 by Chambers and Partners USA for Energy & Natural Resources: Utilities. Dana is also recognized by The Best Lawyers in America® as the 2026 “Lawyer of the Year” in Administrative/Regulatory Law – New Orleans.
Representative Experience
Recent:
The Energy Regulation and Utilities team currently represents the Louisiana Public Service Commission in:
- Various dockets addressing utility rate reviews, development of formula rate plans, and the siting and certification of new generating units and transmission facilities for electric utilities in Louisiana; and
- Proceedings involving the quantification and recoverability of the costs to electric utilities for repair and rebuilding due to damage caused by hurricanes and tropical storms as well as the securitization of those costs.
Noteworthy:
Among the team’s wide-ranging achievements:
- Dana Shelton was integral in successfully petitioning the FERC for an unprecedented electric energy cost equalization mechanism that achieved more than $800 million in rate savings for Louisiana’s electric consumers;
- Noel Darce represented the Louisiana Public Service Commission staff in numerous proceedings involving investor-owned and cooperative electric public utilities, including generation and transmission certification and siting, storm cost recovery and financing, and RTO participation and monitoring; and
- Justin Swaim represented the Louisiana Public Service Commission in multiple proceedings before FERC and the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals concerning numerous federal ratemaking practices that resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars in savings to Louisiana electric ratepayers.
