You get who you vote for. Or don’t vote for. Or who you vote for and don’t know you are voting for. It is not my job to lecture you on your civic responsibilities. But I do think I owe it to you to tell you there are some important elections upcoming that can have a significant impact on your pocketbook. Like the Georgia Public Service Commission.
The five-member commission is responsible for regulating the state’s utility services, such as telephone, gas, pipeline and, oh yeah, electric utilities, like Georgia Power. Do I have your attention now?
Elections for PSC seats haven’t been held since 2020 because of a legal dispute over Georgia’s statewide voting system. That means some commissioners have been in office longer than the six-year terms they were elected to serve.
All five commissioners are Republicans and two, Tim Echols and Fritz Johnson, are running for reelection. Echols is being challenged by Alicia Johnson, a public healthcare principal. Johnson is facing Peter Hubbard, a renewable energy advocate.
While the candidates must live in the district in which they are running, the election is statewide, meaning you can vote on the candidate of your choice wherever you live. Early voting in both races runs through Oct. 31. Election Day is Nov. 4.
Republicans are trying to make the race about the specter of having two(shudder!) Democrats on the commission. Gov. Brian Kemp says, “They (Democrats) don’t even want people to know that there’s a race, and that is our biggest liability. People just don’t know what’s going on. And the Democrats want it to stay that way.” Well, governor, I may have just blown their cover because I am telling a lot of folks today about the race.
Incumbent Fritz Johnson is a tad more hysterical, saying, “And now the very same Democrats who think it’s right for taxpayers to fund gender-affirming surgeries for prisoners want control of your power bill.”
So, two Democrats get elected to the Public Service Commission and begin advocating for gender-affirming surgeries for prisoners? I need to go back and doublecheck the commission’s charter but I don’t think they can do that.
The upcoming Public Service Commission race isn’t about you not knowing there is an election underway or changing prison boys into prison girls and vice versa. It is a referendum on Georgia Power Company. Pure and simple.
The PSC decides the rates that Georgia Power’s 2.8 million customers pay for electricity and how much the monopoly utility is allowed to earn. The question is are you satisfied with how the commission – particularly the two incumbents – have handled things? That is what the election is about. Period. Everything else is a smokescreen.
Since 2022, the Public Service Commission has approved six rate increases for Georgia Power customers with the average residential customer seeing an increase of about $43 per month or over $500 annually. Still, the commission points out that Georgia Power’s rates are 15% below the national average and that the state is ranked No. 22 for cost.
The PSC has allowed the company to charge ratepayers for $7.5 billion of the $10 billion in costs overruns at the Vogtle nuclear power plant, instead of Southern Company shareholders. Georgia Power is a Southern Company subsidiary. As information, Southern Company reported 2024 earnings of $4.4 billion, a $400 million or 10 percent increase from 2023.
Georgia Power has agreed to freeze rates through 2028, but – and it’s a big but – has signaled they will be back next year to the Public Service Commission to request passing the costs of cleaning up the damage from Hurricane Helene and estimated at over $1 billion to the ratepayers.
On the money raising front, an Atlanta-Journal Constitution analysis of campaign records shows Echols has raised about $980,000 in campaign cash since his last election in 2016. Johnson has raised about $473,000 since Gov. Brian Kemp appointed him to the commission four years ago. Much of the money comes from entities they regulate. Through early July, Peter Hubbard has raised less than $25,000 and Alicia Johnson has raised about $71,000 through September. Quite a gap.
So there you have it, dear reader. It’s your choice. If you approve of how the incumbents on the Public Service Commission members, Tim Echols and Fritz Johnson, have managed things, most notably their regulation of Georgia Power, vote them back in. If you don’t, send them packing. Just don’t say this race doesn’t matter. It matters a lot. Ask your pocketbook.
You can reach Dick Yarbrough at dick@dickyarbrough.com or at P.O. Box 725373, Atlanta, Georgia 31139
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