Nearly 100 people from across the state gathered in front of the Public Service Commission on Sept. 30 to protest Georgia Power’s proposed rate increases. While demonstrators raised their voices outside, the PSC was holding its first day of hearings on Georgia Power’s proposal. These activists showed up to #FightTheHike by challenging, among other things, Georgia Power’s proposed fixed rate increase, which would eventually add about $20 added to every customer’s monthly bill.
Increasing this fixed rate discourages conservation of electricity by increasing customers’ monthly bill regardless of the amount of electricity used. It would also disproportionately affect low-income customers who already use strive to use less electricity, simply because they can’t afford it. But this mandatory fee would force them to pay more, no matter how much — or how little — electricity they actually use.
Georgia Power says these base increases are needed to rebuild infrastructure after natural disasters, to close and attempt to clean up coal ash ponds, and update the grid.
Not on our backs
The main message demonstrators asserted was simple: Paying to clean up after Georgia Power’s dirty coal practices is the responsibility of the utility and should not be placed on the backs of residential customers. Wan Smith, an organizer from the Partnership for Southern Equity, was quoted in the Georgia Recorder saying that if Georgia Power plans to clean up the water they polluted, they should be the ones to pay for it.
“We’re here because Georgia Power is trying to make money off the backs of working class Georgians,” Smith said to those in attendance.
Other rally attendees who spoke to the issue said they have already paid the cost of purchasing the coal and it is up to the utility to clean up after itself. Toxic coal ash impacts the health of communities located near coal plants, whether the plants are still in operation or not. Coal ash ponds that are unlined can lead to toxic chemicals, such as heavy metals, cadmium, arsenic and other, seeping into groundwater, threatening ecosystem functions and poisoning individuals downstream.
Power for the people
The five members of the Public Service Commission are elected officials, and demonstrators warned, “If you don’t do right by the people, the people will do right by you.” Two seats on the commission are up for election in 2020, and whatever the outcome of these hearings will be, Georgia voters will remember the decision of the Public Service Commission. Hearings, testimony, and rebuttal of the proposed rate hike will continue through December 2019.
To learn more about Georgia Power's proposal and its impacts, check out this primer from the Souther Alliance for Clean Energy.