Georgia
Georgia Power could face new law to disclose its cost of power generation on customer bills – Georgia Recorder
A bill aimed at increasing transparency into Georgia Power customer’s bills has cleared the House Energy, Utilities and Telecommunications Committee ahead of a critical deadline this week.
The House committee unanimously approved on Tuesday Chairman Don Parsons’ House Bill 1406 that would require Georgia Power to provide on customer bills information about the average overall cost of fuel used by the electric supplier to generate kilowatt hours of electricity charged to the customer for the billing period.
It’s the second time in recent days the state’s largest electricity supplier with strong lobbyist representation at the state Capitol has been the subject of proposals to rein in some of its business practices. Late last week, a state Senate committee supported a bill proposing the creation of a consumer advocate to represent ratepayer interests with Georgia Power files for a rate hike.
Parsons said he drafted the bill so customers can better understand how much the state’s largest utility company charges based on energy costs. The information includes the average cost for Georgia Power to produce a kilowatt hour of electricity from coal, natural gas, solar and nuclear energy over the previous year.
The fate of the bill now rests with the House Rules Committee ahead of Thursday’s Crossover deadline for legislation to advance out of one chamber during the 2024 session.
Parsons said that during his 30 years of serving on utilities legislation committees, he could only recall Georgia Power supporting legislation that it asked a lawmaker to sponsor. The bill comes on the heels of state regulators approving several Georgia Power bill increases due to increased electricity base rates, overrun costs associated with building the Vogtle nuclear power plant units, coal ash cleanup and other expenses.
“I think having this kind of transparency could really alleviate a lot of those concerns, particularly when fuel costs go up also happens to be around the same time that another rate hike happens,” said Parsons, a Marietta Republican.
Jeff Grubb, director of resource and policy planning at Georgia Power said one of the reasons the company opposes the bill is that a good deal of the information can be found on the customer bills and the company’s website.
For example, Georgia Power updates its fuel costs for energies like coal, nuclear and natural gas every year under the company’s facts and figures section online, he said.
Grubb cautioned that many customers could become confused by including information that’s not directly tied to the rates customers are paying on that particular bill.
“If customers are looking to make changes to their bill, or to add a resource or behind the meter solar, we have teams that will work with those customers and provide them all the information that they need to make those types of decisions,” Grubb said.
Grubb said that when a customer’s power bills fluctuate, it’s typically due to the usage of electricity and the fuel costs Georgia Power receives is determined in rate cases that goes before the Public Service Commision. The company can come back later to recoup some of the extra fuel costs if they exceeded projections based on the energy commodities market, Grubb said.
He also said that providing how much Georgia Power has paid for fuel within the past couple of months puts the company at risk of providing trade secrets in a volatile energy market.
“We have less concern or no concern with something from last year a few months ago, but something that we just got finished with and our annual expenses in a month causes us concerns from a business confidentiality point because it could harm customers,” Grubb said.
Parsons said that Grubb must think Georgia Power has a lot of “dumb” customers who will be confused by providing more information on what it costs to do business.
“If I’m getting a new roof put on the house and the contractor tells me this summer this is going to cost this much, I say well, okay, how much does it cost you for each bundle of roofing material that you use? I would expect him to tell me how much,” Parsons said.
“I don’t know why Georgia Power would not want to provide this basic information to a customer. You keep talking about proprietary secrets and things like that,” Parsons said. “You’re defending the company, but you’re not looking out for the customer.”
Bob Sherrier, staff attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center, says Georgia Power’s policy with the Public Service Commission lets the company charge customers 100% of its fuel costs.
“For example, in last year’s (fuel cost recovery) proceeding, the average residential bill was increased by about $16 a month to pay for mostly gas spikes the prior year,” he said. “I think that this is a good bill and that this kind of information is important for the people who actually have to pay for it to know.”
Rep. Beth Camp, a Concord Republican, said she would appreciate a breakdown of coal, natural gas, nuclear, and solar power on her Georgia Power bill.
Woodstock Republican Rep. Jordan Ridley recommended that Georgia Power get out of the electricity business if it is so concerned about protecting trade secrets.
“Anytime we have government-run monopolies, we need to have as much transparency as possible,” he said.
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People cheer for President Trump en route to his speaking engagement at the Coosa Steel Corporation on Feb. 19 in Rome, Ga. Trump delivered remarks on the economy and affordability as the state started voting to replace the seat vacated by former Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.
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ATLANTA — Voters in Northwest Georgia are choosing who should replace former Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. Voting closes in the district’s special election on Tuesday night.
The election will test the weight of President Trump’s endorsement of one of the candidates in a crowded race. Some voters say the president’s choice is not who they think would best support the conservative MAGA movement championed by both Trump and Greene.
Greene resigned at the beginning of this year, leaving Georgia’s 14th Congressional District without representation in Congress — and slimming the GOP’s majority in the House — following a bitter split with Trump.
Greene rose to prominence over five years in office as a strong ally of Trump, bombastically attacking critics and pushing the MAGA movement’s “America First” policy. Yet the two had a very public clash after she pushed for the release of documents related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Greene has also been sharply critical of Trump’s actions abroad, saying he has strayed from his promises to focus domestically.
With Trump now in the second year of his second term, other high-profile spats with key parts of his MAGA coalition have erupted over his administration’s handling of other issues, including sweeping tariffs, immigration policy and more. More recently, rifts have emerged over the war with Iran.
Some, like Greene, argue that though Trump helped create the “America First” worldview, he is not the sole arbiter of what it looks like.
Most of the GOP candidates in the special election have said they want to focus on Trump’s priorities and the concerns of their district, rather than become headlines themselves — an approach they say Greene embraced in her public disputes with Democrats and even with members of her own party.
“The difference between Marjorie and I is I will not use the press to become a celebrity,” Republican Star Black said during a candidate forum on Feb. 16. “I will use the press to actually show what I have done — the accomplishments,”
Trump has endorsed Clay Fuller, a district attorney in northwest Georgia for the state’s Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit. He emphasized his support last month during a visit to Rome, part of the state’s 14th District, where he held a rally to tout his administration’s economic policy.
Fuller called himself a “MAGA warrior” at the event.
Republican congressional candidate Clay Fuller (left) shakes hands with President Trump as he arrives on Air Force One at Russell Regional Airport on Feb. 19 in Rome, Ga.
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“I really like him,” said rally attendee Jill Fisher. “I think he’s a strong candidate, seems like a very nice family man with some great values. And I think he’ll add a lot to Congress.”
Highlighting Fuller’s military service as an Air Force veteran, an ad for his campaign says, ” ‘America First’ is the story of his life.”
Fuller faces several other GOP candidates in the primary, including former state Sen. Colton Moore. Moore won elections for the state Legislature in the district before and is considered one of the most right-leaning lawmakers at the state level.
“I’m 100% pro-Trump,” Moore declared in his campaign announcement video.
He’s made a few headlines of his own. Last year, Moore was arrested for attempting to enter the House chambers in Atlanta to attend the State of the State address by GOP Gov. Brian Kemp. Moore argued he had a constitutional right to enter the chamber. Moore had been banned from entering the chambers by the state’s Republican House Speaker Jon Burns for disparaging comments he made about a late Georgia lawmaker at his portrait unveiling.
Moore’s record matters for some GOP voters even more than Trump’s endorsement. Less Dunaway, 14th district voter, says he’s a strong supporter of Trump, but thinks Moore will do a better job carrying out the president’s agenda than Trump’s own pick.
“He actually knows what he’s doing,” Dunaway said of Moore. “He was a state representative, a state senator. He was the first one to fight the people over the 2020 election in Georgia.”
Moore was one of a group of GOP state lawmakers who called on lawmakers to investigate or impeach Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis after she charged Trump and others with trying to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia, when Trump and his allies pushed baseless claims of widespread election fraud.
Fuller insists Trump made the right choice in supporting his bid.
“I think they’re looking for someone to carry President Trump’s banner, support his agenda, and fight for him on Capitol Hill,” Fuller told Georgia Public Broadcasting last month.
Still some Republicans who attended the February rally left undecided.
“I don’t just blindly follow what [Trump] says,” said Clay Cooper of Rome.
Still, Cooper said that Trump’s endorsement means he will give Fuller more thought. “[Fuller is] someone that [Trump] thinks aligns very much with his messaging, with his actions, so that certainly weighs in,” Cooper said.
Unlike a partisan primary, all the candidates — Republicans, Democrats and third party candidates — will be on the same ballot for voters in the special election. If no one gets over 50% of the vote, the two top vote-getters regardless of party will advance to a runoff on April 7.
Follow the results below as polls close on Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET.
NPR’s Padmananda Rama contributed to this report.
Mableton, one of Georgia’s youngest cities, is heralded as an example to follow for its artificial intelligence policies.
(Illustration: Marcie LaCerte for the AJC)
When you think about the American cities on the cutting edge of technology, which ones come to mind?
Maybe tech hubs like Austin, Texas; Boston; or San Jose, California? Maybe New York City or Los Angeles?
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Mableton Mayor Michael Owens embraces artificial intelligence, calling it an equalizer. (Courtesy)
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Mableton is home to Six Flags Over Georgia. (Courtesy of Six Flags Over Georgia)
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Mableton officials cut the ribbon for the city’s first permanent office in May 2025 (Courtesy)
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Zachary Hansen, a Georgia native, covers economic development and commercial real estate for the AJC. He’s been with the newspaper since 2018 and enjoys diving into complex stories that affect people’s lives.
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