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.
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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.
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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.
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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.”
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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.
By Felix Light TBILISI (Reuters) – Georgia faces more protests this week as lawmakers resume debate on a “foreign agents” law that opponents denounce as a Russian-inspired tool to crack down on freedom of speech. The bill would force organisations receiving more than 20% of their funding from abroad …
ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia voters are beginning to have their say on party primary races and nonpartisan judicial elections.
Three weeks of early in-person voting is set to begin Monday ahead of the May 21 election, when parties will choose their nominees for congressional and state legislative seats, as well as for local races including sheriffs, district attorneys and county commissioners.
May 21 also is the general election for judicial candidates, who run on a nonpartisan basis.
Mail-in ballots were sent last week to those who had requested them, while people can continue to request a mail ballot through May 10.
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Among the top races are a state supreme court race between incumbent Justice Andrew Pinson and challenger John Barrow and primaries in the 3rd Congressional District, where incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Drew Ferguson is stepping down.
Runoffs will be held June 18 in races where candidates don’t win a majority in May.
Here’s a look at the election and some top races:
CONGRESSIONAL SHOWDOWN
Six Republicans are seeking their party’s nomination to succeed Ferguson in a district that runs along the Alabama border from Carrollton to Columbus and swings east into the Atlanta suburbs around Peachtree City and Fayetteville.
Former President Donald Trump has endorsed his onetime aide Brian Jack for the seat. Also seeking the nomination are former state Sens. Mike Crane and Mike Dugan, former state Rep. Philip Singleton, Jim Bennett and Ray Blair.
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On the Democratic side, Val Almonord and Maura Keller are seeking their party’s nomination in the heavily GOP district.
STATE SUPREME COURT
The May 21 vote is the general election for judicial candidates, who run without party labels.
Incumbent Justice Andrew Pinson, who was appointed to the court by Gov. Brian Kemp in 2022, is trying to win a six-year term. He is opposed by John Barrow, a former Democratic congressman. Barrow says he believes Georgians have a right to abortion under the state constitution, while Pinson says it’s inappropriate for him to talk about issues and important not to make the race partisan.
Justices Michael Boggs, John Ellington and Nels Peterson are unopposed. Six judges on the Georgia Court of Appeals are also unopposed, while Jeff Davis and Tabitha Ponder are contending for an open seat on that intermediate court of appeal.
OTHER CONGRESSIONAL RACES
Incumbent U.S. Reps. Lucy McBath and David Scott, both Democrats, face challengers from their own party in redrawn districts.
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Scott faces six challengers in the 13th District in Atlanta’s southern and eastern suburbs. They include former East Point City Council member Karen René, former South Fulton City Council member Mark Baker and attorney Brian Johnson. On the Republican side, Jonathan Chavez is running against Johsie Fletcher.
U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath has jumped from the 7th District to run in the 6th District, on the western side of metro Atlanta. She’s being challenged by fellow Democrats Mandisha Thomas, a state representative, and Jerica Richardson, a Cobb County commissioner.
LOCAL RACES
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, in the national spotlight for her prosecution of former President Trump and others, faces attorney Christian Wise Smith in the Democratic primary. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee, who is presiding in the same case, is being challenged by lawyer and talk show host Robert Patillo. Lawyer Tiffani Johnson was disqualified from challenging McAfee.
WHAT WILL TURNOUT BE LIKE?
While 5 million or more Georgians could vote in November’s presidential election, history suggests many fewer people will vote in the primary.
In 2016, the last time the state primaries didn’t coincide with the presidential primary, only one-fifth as many people voted in May as in the presidential general election in November. With few hotly contested congressional primaries, races for county offices may be what bring voters to the polls in some parts of Georgia.
The No. 7 ranked Georgia softball team fell to Kentucky 6-2 in the series finale at John Cropp Stadium on April 14. The Bulldogs have now lost three consecutive series against SEC teams, dating back to their series against Arkansas back in late March.
Georgia’s bats totaled nine hits throughout the game, but could not bring anyone home with runners on. The Bulldogs stranded 12 runners throughout the game.
The Bulldogs opened the top of the first inning with some soft contact, securing two infield hits. With runners on the corners, Jaydyn Goodwin and Sara Mosley both struck out swinging to end the top of the first.
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The Wildcats, on the other hand, put the Bulldogs’ Madison Kerpics under pressure early. Following a lead-off single and a hit-by-pitch, Taylor Ebbs singled up the middle to give Kentucky the 1-0 lead. A couple of batters later, a sac fly and a walk led to an early exit for Kerpics, who was relieved by Shelby Walters. Kerpics was charged with her second loss of the year.
The story was the same for Georgia in the top of the second. Having two runners on, the Bulldogs could not capitalize. For Kentucky, things were great. A two-run home run by Ebbs extended the Wildcats lead to 4-0.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, a lead-off home run off the bat of Lauryn Borzilleri, followed by a single and double led Tony Baldwin to make a pitching change, with Lilli Backes entering the game with Georgia down 5-0. Backes with runners on second and third with no outs got UGA out of the jam with no further damage.
Backes pitched three innings of two-hit ball and gave up only one run, which the Wildcats scored in the bottom of the fifth.
Georgia’s first run came in the top of the sixth inning from Lyndi Rae Davis on a foul out. The second run came in the following inning this time off the bat of Jayda Kearney who struck a ball deep to left-center. This was Kearney’s 15th home run of the year.
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Georgia softball will return home to the Jack Turner Stadium after a long weekend on the road, as they will face off against USC Upstate on Wednesday, April 17th at 6 p.m.
