This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising electricity bills to developing renewable energy.
Carolyn Yeago couldn’t figure it out. The Atlanta resident is a biomedical scientist, and no stranger to complex problems. But one thing she didn’t know how to calculate was her Georgia Power bill.
Yeago is on Georgia Power’s Overnight Advantage plan, designed for customers who, like her, own an electric vehicle or have other batteries to charge. It offers a lower rate between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m., incentivizing EV owners to plug their cars in when demand for electricity is otherwise low. In Georgia Power parlance, that period of time is “super off-peak.” There’s also “off-peak” (7 a.m to 2 p.m., then again from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m.) and “peak” — the height of the day, when electricity is most expensive. (Those three time periods apply only from June to September; the rest of the year, it’s just off-peak and super off-peak.)
A standard Georgia Power bill for residential customers lists a “current service” line, which is the main charge, reflecting electricity usage in the past billing period, followed by a few lines for various fees and sales tax. “Where I got totally confused is actually calculating your current service,” Yeago said. “What I had been doing is multiplying my usage hours by their rate number, from the rate plan, and adding that up. And it doesn’t equal your current service charge. It’s significantly less.”
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