Thanks to the Georgia Public Service Commission and Georgia Power, your utility bills will continue to rise

The Georgia Public Service Commission is a state agency that regulates energy. The current commission has two commissioners who are serving expired terms due to litigation. In these expired seats, these two commissioners have joined the others in voting unanimously to approve billions of dollars of Georgia Power rate increases that are placed on the backs of Georgians.

There are serious public policy violations in play because Georgia voters did not approve these commissioners to represent them in 2023, yet here they are – giving the green light to those who are raising your utility rates.   

Besides the two most recent rate increases, totaling $4 billion, that the Georgia PSC just approved over the past six months, there is a looming $10 billion in expenses that Georgia Power is planning to ask the Georgia PSC to approve for Plant Vogtle. Yes, that means that you and I will be stuck paying for this bill for decades and possibly our lifetime.

Plant Vogtle is the nation’s only nuclear power plant under construction and is now the most expensive power plant ever built on earth at $35 billion, with almost $18 billion in cost overruns that have not been approved. $10 billion of those cost overruns will be placed on the backs of Georgia Power customers and the remaining $8 billion in cost overruns will be paid by Georgia Electric Membership Corporation customers (EMCs) and municipal utility customers. Nearly every Georgian in the state will be impacted by these cost overruns.

Here is some information you should know:

Georgia is one of only six states where no Consumer Utility Council (CUC) exists. This state department once existed to help Georgians but was defunded by Gov. Purdue under the guise of budget cuts (during the Great Recession of 2008). Georgia Power tried to eliminate it before then.

With the CUC out of the way and no one to protect Georgians, the Georgia Public Service Commission proceeded with Plant Vogtle and approved it with no cost caps and no consumer protections.

That would never have been allowed had the Consumer Utility Council existed.  We are sharing this information because these are important issues for you to understand and pay attention to. Protect your families and protect your pocketbooks the only way we can by voting them out of office.

Be prepared to act and share this information with others. Stay tuned for updates on other PSC issues including when PSC elections will be held.

Incumbents who have put the needs of a monopoly above the needs of Georgia citizens need to be voted out of office.

They have voted against our interests including struggling families and seniors trying to pay their utility bills, as well as against middle-class families who would like to participate in a solar program – but cannot because of the decisions of the current PSC commissioners.

Georgians, we must be like elephants and not forget what they have been doing. It is time to do to them what they have spent the past years doing to hardworking Georgians. When the time comes, be prepared to cast a vote against them.