Georgia lawmakers weigh utility advocate, PSC elections
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Some Georgia lawmakers want to revive an office to advocate for utility customers. The proposal comes as Georgia Power bills have increased repeatedly in the past year and utility regulator elections remain on hold.
Senate Bill 457, which passed the state Senate and is now in a House committee, would reinstate the Consumers’ Utility Counsel – a public advocate to represent the interests of customers on issues like electricity rates. The position existed until 2008, when it was eliminated during widespread budget cuts.
Republican state Sen. Chuck Hufstetler of Rome, the bill’s sponsor, said he’s heard from his constituents that their bills are too high.
“I look at how our rates have increased compared to others around the country and the lack of anyone with legal standing for them,” he said. “I think there might be a correlation there.”
The Georgia Public Service Commission sets electricity rates for Georgia Power. Bills have increased four times since January 1, 2023, with another rate hike on the way when the second new nuclear reactor at Plant Vogtle enters service.
While a portion of the PSC’s staff is dedicated to public interest advocacy, Hufstetler said he’s concerned those staffers aren’t sufficiently independent to truly represent consumers.
The Commission’s director of utilities, Tom Bond, told the House Agriculture and Consumer Affairs Committee on Tuesday that the consumer advocate isn’t needed because of the existing public interest advocacy staff – and because the commissioners are elected.
“There is no intermediary between them and their constituents,” Bond said. “If ratepayers are unhappy, commissioners know it. They’ll find out at the ballot box if they don’t find out from a call to their office.”
Public Service Commission terms are six years long, but elections for the Public Service Commission have been on hold since 2022.
A lawsuit alleging the way PSC elections work discriminates against Black voters has led to the delay. Each commissioner has to live in one of five geographic districts, but the elections are all statewide. The plaintiffs argue this system dilutes their votes and prevents Black voters in Atlanta from selecting a candidate of their choice for the commission.
In 2022, a federal judge agreed with the plaintiffs and halted elections until a new system could be devised; last year, an appeals court reversed that decision. But the Georgia Secretary of State’s office is waiting on final guidance from the court before holding an election.
Two commissioners, Tim Echols and Fitz Johnson, continue to serve despite not facing voters as originally scheduled in 2022. Another commissioner, Tricia Pridemore, will see her term expire at the end of this year, but no election for her seat is scheduled, either.
A substitute bill presented by a state Senate committee would set a schedule for those elections to resume, starting with races for the seats Echols and Johnson hold in November 2025. By then, Echols would be nearing the end of his ninth year in office since last facing voters.
In the proposed bill, an election for the seat currently held by Pridemore would follow in November 2026, by which time she will be wrapping up her eighth year in office.
Johnson was appointed to fill a vacant seat on the commission in 2021, and thus was running in a special election in 2022. Under the proposed legislation, the winner of the 2025 race for his current seat would serve a one-year term.
The commissioners are paid more than $120,000 a year.
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