{"id":37386,"date":"2022-06-28T09:28:48","date_gmt":"2022-06-28T13:28:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/?p=37386"},"modified":"2022-06-28T09:28:52","modified_gmt":"2022-06-28T13:28:52","slug":"georgia-power-wants-to-raise-rates-by-12-heres-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/?p=37386","title":{"rendered":"Georgia Power wants to raise rates by 12%. Here’s why"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Georgia Power<\/a> is asking the state Public Service Commission for a rate hike of nearly 12% during the next three years, with the vast majority of the increase front-loaded into 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The proposed increase, which the Atlanta-based utility filed Friday with the PSC, would raise the average residential customer\u2019s bill by $16.29 per month. Of that amount, $14.32 would take effect next Jan. 1. Another $1.35 would be tacked onto monthly bills<\/a> in 2024, followed by an increase of 62 cents in 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The increase is needed to strengthen Georgia Power\u2019s electric grid, add more renewable energy to its power-generation portfolio and improve customer service, said Chris Womack, the company\u2019s chairman, president and CEO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a real significant commitment to our infrastructure to make sure we are responding to our customers<\/a> \u2026 as we move from coal to more gas and solar,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Georgia Power also is seeking a return on equity (ROE) of 11%, up from the 10.5% ROE the commission approved in the utility\u2019s last rate case three years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re requesting to maintain the financial integrity of the company,\u201d Womack said of the ROE proposal. \u201cThat actually puts downward pressure on rates.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Environmental and consumer advocates criticized the proposed rate hike as excessive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGeorgia Power\u2019s customers already pay some of the highest electric bills in the country,\u201d said Liz Coyle, executive director of the consumer advocacy group Georgia Watch. \u201cIf the Public Service Commission approves this steep rate hike, it will add a significant burden to already stretched household budgets.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSierra Club is carefully reviewing Georgia Power\u2019s proposal, and we\u2019ll be looking for any unreasonable investments in existing, uneconomic fossil fuel plants as well as how the company plans to deal with the cost of coal ash<\/a> clean up,\u201d added Charline Whyte, senior campaign representative for the Sierra Club\u2019s Beyond Coal Campaign in Georgia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThroughout this rate case proceeding, Sierra Club will fight to make sure customers aren\u2019t stuck paying the bill for coal plants that Georgia Power doesn\u2019t even need.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Georgia Power has been reducing its reliance on fossil fuels in recent years. In the rate-case filing, the utility is proposing to retire 3,600 megawatts of generating capacity from coal- and oil-burning power plants<\/a> by 2028.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company is pledging to add 6,000 megawatts of power from renewable energy by 2035, doubling its generating capacity from renewable sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Georgia Power also plans to increase its commitment to electric vehicles. A shortage of EV charging stations across Georgia has been identified as a barrier to developing the technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe want to be a good partner in supporting the buildout of that infrastructure,\u201d Womack said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The PSC will hold hearings on the rate hike request later this year and vote on the proposal in December.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n[mailerlite_form form_id=3]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Georgia Power is asking the state Public Service Commission for a rate hike of nearly 12% during the next three years, with the vast majority of the increase front-loaded into 2023.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37475,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[8479],"class_list":["post-37386","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-family","tag-georgia-power","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=37386"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37386\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=37386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=37386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=37386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}