ATLANTA — Lawyers representing environmental groups and manufacturers asked the state Public Service Commission’s Energy Committee (PSC) Thursday to reject an agreement letting Georgia Power recover 100% of higher fuel costs incurred during the last two years from customers.
The PSC’s Public Interest Advocacy staff and the Atlanta-based utility agreed last month on a plan that would allow Georgia Power to recover $2.1 billion in higher fuel costs primarily due to an increase in natural gas prices. That would raise the average residential customer’s bill by $15.90 a month.
The agreement’s opponents did not challenge Georgia Power’s right to recover the higher fuel costs, which is permitted under state law as a pass-through expense. The utility does not earn any profit from fuel-cost recovery.
Instead, they objected to letting Georgia Power collect the full cost recovery from customers at a time many are hard pressed to pay their electric bills without at least some sharing of the costs with shareholders.
Last year, nearly 10% of the utility’s residential customer accounts were disconnected for nonpayment, said Jennifer Whitfield, a lawyer representing Georgia Interfaith Power and Light.
She said state law requires the commission to approve electric rate hikes only if they are “just and reasonable.”
“There’s nothing just and reasonable about service people can’t afford,” Whitfield said.
Bryan Jacob, representing the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy and the Sierra Club, said not requiring Georgia Power to have some “skin in the game” leaves the utility with no motivation to control fuel costs.
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