Georgia PSC Approves Georgia Power 2022 Rate Plan

ATLANTA, GA -- Today, the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) made its final decision in Georgia Power’s 2022 rate case with a 4-1 vote, with Commissioner Bubba McDonald opposing. The vote is the culmination of months of hearings that included testimony from Georgia Power as well as intervening parties like Sierra Club.

The PSC approved Georgia Power’s roughly $1.8 billion rate increase, which was modified from the original ​​$2.9 billion rate request through an agreement between PSC staff and Georgia Power. One major change from Georgia Power’s original proposal is that residential rates will not increase by around $15 monthly immediately in January 2023, but rather, the rate increases will be spaced over the next three years. The first year impact on the typical residential customer will be a 2.8% increase, approximately $3.60/month followed by approximately a 4.5% increase in 2024 and 2025. 

Georgia Power is expected to come back to the PSC to ask for additional rate increases throughout 2023, including a February fuel cost adjustment and subsequent increases when Plant Vogtle comes online.  

Key issues in the rate case:

• Profit - The rate case sets both Georgia Power’s target profit (the return on equity or ROE) and also its maximum profit. The PSC voted to set Georgia Power’s target ROE to 10.5% and the maximum at 11.9%. Generally, Georgia Power earns at or above its maximum profit allowance.
• Coal Ash - Additional coal ash remediation costs were approved, but in the future, the PSC can evaluate whether costs were reasonable and justified.
• Electric Vehicle Investments - Decreased EV investments by 35% of the original proposed amount, but due in part to Sierra Club’s advocacy, EV investments will focus on public schools, public fleets and publicly available charging. 
• Rooftop Solar / Net Metering - The price for excess generation for customers on instantaneous net metering increased slightly (Georgia Power’s avoided energy cost plus 4 cents per kilowatt-hour). The PSC chose not to increase the maxed-out 5,000 customer cap for the monthly netting program, which means additional incentives won’t be open to new customers.
• Community Solar - PSC set the price per month for the community solar buy-in program to $24 for residential customers and $25 for commercial customers, which is less than the $27.99 for residential customers and $29.99 for commercial customers that Georgia Power initially requested.
• Grid Investments - Reduced grid investments by 40%, citing lack of necessity. 
• Smart Usage Program - Customers will not be auto-enrolled into Georgia Power’s “Smart Usage” Rate Plan, which the PSC Staff and intervenors found can actually cost customers more money than traditional rate plans. 
• Usage Information - The PSC passed a motion to require Georgia Power to provide hourly usage data for all commercial and residential customers. 

Loretta Green, Atlanta resident, former Southern Company employee, President emeritus of the Meadows Community Association, and Atlanta Neighborhood Planning Unit-R member, released the following statement:

“I’m a senior citizen on fixed income as well as a military veteran. My neighbors and I are already experiencing economic hardship and having a hard time buying food and other essentials. This is not the right time for a rate hike. While the CEOs of Georgia Power and Southern Company are making millions, they’re bleeding their customers dry. If they need to find more money to operate, they need to find it from executive salaries, not from people who can’t afford it. The PSC needs to do its job and protect me and my community from Georgia Power’s greedy rate hikes.” 

Charline Whyte, Senior Campaign Representative for the Sierra Club Beyond Coal Campaign in Georgia, released the following statement:

“What’s truly jaw-dropping about the PSC-approved plan is Georgia Power’s maximum profit ceiling, which is over 2% higher than the national utility average. Georgia Power and Southern Company earn millions in profits on an essential service while hardworking Georgians might now have to decide whether to buy medicine or keep the lights on - a choice no one should ever have to make. The PSC cited rising interest rates and inflation as rationale for why Georgia Power, a monopoly utility provider in much of Georgia, should get to earn more. It’s revealing that the Commission charged with protecting consumers only cares about inflation when it comes to Georgia Power’s profit, not when it comes to Georgia families. 
“It is unacceptable that ratepayers end up paying for Georgia Power’s mess. Thanks to the PSC, Georgia Power gets to collect money to clean up coal ash that it knowingly stored unsafely for decades. Federal rules and recent rulings clearly state that coal ash cannot be in contact with groundwater. Yet, Georgia Power still gets to recover the cost to cap-in-place millions of tons of coal ash without a liner to protect water from toxic pollution, rather than doing what is safest for Georgia’s watershed.”

Gina Webber, Interim Director of the Sierra Club Georgia Chapter, released the following statement:

“Today, the PSC gave Georgia Power the authority to rake in huge profits on the backs of hardworking Georgians who are already struggling to make ends meet. This is politics as usual at the Public Service Commission: Giving the company they’re elected to regulate a sweetheart deal while making Georgians pay the highest energy bills in the country. In the height of the holiday season, Georgia Power put coal in your stocking and the PSC is making you pay for it. The Sierra Club will continue to fight for affordable, clean energy for all Georgians.”