Over the summer, power bills shot up 28 percent, due in large part, to higher than expected natural gas prices.

Entergy Mississippi passed on fuel adjustment charges to the customer to offset the cost of natural gas they use to run their plants.

Now the Mississippi Public Service Commission is investigating "carrying charges" associated with those fuel adjustments.

Further investigation by the PSC into fuel adjustments found another fee passed on to customers every time power companies under- or over-estimate how much they will pay for fuel.

The fee is called a carrying charge and is more than twice the amount of the current prime interest rate of five percent.

"We've got to get out of this business of guess work and speculation and we've all got to find a way to work toward that," said Brandon Presley, PSC commissioner.

The commission will hold hearings in November to look at Entergy and Mississippi Power. But both sides agree the power companies have done nothing wrong.

"The interest rate is set under the formula of the rate plan which is governed by the PSC, set by the PSC," said Entergy spokesperson Mara Hartmann. "But it states that the 12 percent is what it costs us to, cost of doing business in order to purchase fuel."

Entergy gets back half of those costs it pays in interest. But what about rate payers? Customers could see a smaller number on their power bill and a more transparent easier to understand billing process.

"The sun needs to shine in on this," said Presley. "And I think, as Commissioner Bentz said, we've had some long discussions about how do we best put it to where ratepayers know exactly what it is they're paying."

"We're working to come up with solutions, but we support something simpler, it's a little complicated. We have suggested alternative methods to the p-s-c included tying it to the prime."

And at least in this sense, simpler could mean more money in your pocket book.

The PSC said it believes you can see a difference on your power bill as soon as December, but more likely, in January.