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Georgia Power is asking to raise power bills again beginning next month. It’s the second of three increases expected for customers this year alone. This increase, which could be close to $16 a month for a typical residential customer, comes just as the summer is starting to heat up, a time when bills typically increase as customers run fans or air conditioning to stay safe and cool.
The Georgia Public Service Commission on May 2 heard testimony on Georgia Power’s request. Ratepayers pleaded with the commission not to add more to their bills.
“Do you know how many people I have buried who have suffered from heat?” asked Juanita Dixon, who traveled from Savannah to speak during the public testimony portion of the hearing. “Who can’t even afford to buy their medicine? Who cannot even afford to pay their rent?”
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Georgia Power says it needs to charge more to make up for the rising cost of natural gas. The fuel cost recovery proceeding is designed to reconcile the true cost of the fuel used to make electricity with the amount customers have paid, an amount set every two years based in part on projected costs. Sometimes, fuel costs are low and the utility credits the excess it collected back to customers. But during this cycle, natural gas costs skyrocketed, and Georgia Power now says it’s about $2.6 billion short.
Under an agreement with the commission’s Public Interest Advocacy staff, the utility would collect all but $7 million of that shortfall. If approved, it would add about $15.90 per month to the typical residential customer’s bill beginning in June, slightly less than Georgia Power initially asked for.
The agreement would also increase the fuel discount that income-qualified senior citizens get, from $6 to $8 per month, making the total monthly senior discount $32.
If the commission approves the current proposals, the monthly bill for a typical residential customer would climb to $147.50.
More: on electricity costs:Public Service Commission approves Georgia Power bill increase for ratepayers in 2023
Climbing bills draw ire
That’s still too high for many who spoke at the May 2 hearing.
“Let’s think about ways to lessen energy burden instead of heaping more burden on people, working class people,” said Wanda Mosley of the Black Voters Matter Fund.
Atlanta ranks high nationwide for its energy burden – the percentage of household income spent on energy.
Georgia Power customers saw their bills go up at the beginning of this year, by about $3.60 for the typical residential customer, after the Public Service Commission approved rate increases over the next three years as part of a different regulatory proceeding. Bills will likely increase again later this year, as the first of the long-delayed new nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle goes into service.
Commissioners argued in the hearing that with this increase, their hands are tied; state law allows Georgia Power to pass fuel costs on to consumers. But several witnesses stressed that the law doesn’t require customers to shoulder the entire cost.
“Why do you justify these increases as though there are no options?” asked Atlanta resident Sherri B. Williams. “There are always options for those in leadership who choose to do the right thing.”
One such option, proposed by energy consultant Jeffry Pollock on behalf of the Georgia Association of Manufacturers: spread the payments out over a longer period. By recouping the cost over five years instead of three, he argued, the company could charge less per month.
“Economically speaking, consumers are better off letting the company carry the balance for a longer period than for consumers to pay it off quicker,” Pollock said. “With the perfect storm of rate cases and increases now upon us, the commission really has an opportunity to mitigate and help consumers to more gradually adjust to the much higher electricity rates.”
Others called for the company to take on a fixed percentage of fuel costs, rather than an amount negotiated after the fact.
“There’s just no economic consequence or incentive to more aggressively manage fuel costs” under the current system, said Jeremy Kalin, who testified on behalf of the Sierra Club and the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.
What about a heavier reliance on renewables?
If Georgia Power were required to share fuel costs, and knew that going into its planning process, he argued, the utility would have an incentive to keep fuel costs lower. One way to do that, Kalin said, is to rely more on…
Read More: Georgia Power request Georgia Public Service Commission rate hike