Tag Archives: Georgia Power

Coal tax and a gas pipeline for Christmas?

This was an op-ed submission to the VDT, which didn’t respond. Today’s the GA PSC vote, so I’m blogging it now.

On Tuesday, the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) wants to do for coal what the Florida PSC already did for that gas pipeline Sabal Trail wants to gash through here: raise utility customer rates!

Who wants a Christmas present of higher electricity rates and continued coal smoke, plus increased guaranteed profit for Georgia Power of 11.5%? They already raised rates each of the last three years for gas and nuclear plants not yet even built; why should we permit more rate hikes when the PSC votes December 17th? Last week’s Public Policy poll found 69% of Georgia voters oppose that rate hike.

Is a one-time payment enough to let a huge 36 inch fracked methane pipeline gash through our communities while Spectra Energy of Houston and FPL of Juno Beach, Florida profit forever, and your property values go down and your hazards go up?

Those FPL profits come from rate hikes on your cousins the Florida ratepayers. AARP opposes that, saying: Continue reading →

Florida PSC terminates Levy County 1 & 2 nukes, charges Duke customers, settles Crystal River 3

Remember, Georgia, Georgia Power can continue to charge you for Plant Vogtle 3 and 4 even after they’re canceled, just like Duke is doing for Levy County in Florida. Beware: Duke’s idea of a replacement is a natural gas plant powered by a 36″ pipeline on a 100′ right of way gashed through Alabama, Georgia, and Florida.

And while Duke customers will get refunds for permanently-closed Crystal River 3, FL PSC also slid in a new tax: “promotes community growth through economic development tariffs.” A tariff is, according to Investopedia:

A tax imposed on imported goods and services. Tariffs are used to restrict trade, as they increase the price of imported goods and services, making them more expensive to consumers. They are one of several tools available to shape trade policy.

Curious how FL PSC redefines restraints on trade as promoting growth.

FL PSC PR of 17 October 2013, PSC Decides Revised Settlement Agreement for Duke Energy Florida, Inc., Continue reading →

Mississippi PSC required spending docs for Kemper Coal: what about Plant Vogtle?

Maybe Georgia PSC could do about Georgia Power’s nuclear Plant Vogtle what Mississippi PSC did about Mississippi Power’s Kemper Coal: hold their parent Southern Company accountable for cost overruns. And for pipelines!

Sam R. Hall blogged for Daily Ledes 1 November 2013, Sources: U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz to visit Kemper coal plant,

The PSC voted unanimously to require Mississippi Power to provide additional documents justifying their spending on the Kemper plant. The hearing is set for May 2014, when the plant was originally supposed to go online.

“If the PSC rejects some of the spending as imprudent, it could add to the $1 billion in costs that shareholders have already agreed to absorb,” the Associated Press reported last month.

Meanwhile, GA PSC Continue reading →

LEDs vs. the entire U.S. nuclear fleet (and gas pipeline)

All U.S. nuclear power reactors could be replaced by LED lighting with a few clever on-off controls. More evidence Plant Vogtle is a boondoggle good for nothing but propping up profits for Georgia Power and Southern Company.

Michael Kanellos wrote for Forbes 28 October 2013, Can LED Bulbs Make Nuclear Plants Obsolete?

One $7 billion nuclear plant like one of Georgia Power’s 1.2 GW units would add a little over 1 percent of capacity. The bulb solution would cost $60 billion, and around $36 billion two years from now, and require only that consumers know how to screw in a light bulb. Nuclear would cost $105 billion, probably more, and take decades.

So maybe it’s not just weather that’s pushing down your demand, Southern Company: maybe Continue reading →

Southern Company missed earnings: weather and Kemper Coal and nuclear Plant Vogtle

SO CEO Tom Fanning continued to blame slow sales and earnings on mild weather (air conditioners running less), but the big boondoggle going bad is Kemper Coal, which has slipped six months from May 2014 to Q4 2014, and even the Wall Street Journal calls it “possibly the most expensive fossil-fuel power plant ever built in the U.S”. How bad will SO’s stock tank when SO’s even more expensive nuclear Plant Vogtle slips even more? Dividends can’t prop up SO’s share price forever, not when PSCs are revolting against the rate hikes and guaranteed profit hikes that prop up those dividends. When will Southern Company and Georgia Power get out front and lead in solar and wind power? Before or after the public, state public service commissions, and investors make them do it?

Justin Loiseau wrote for DailyFinance 4 November 2013, Southern Company Earnings: A $5 Billion Blunder? Continue reading →

Citizens for solar power; GA leg. not so much

Utility backers in the Georgia legislature tried scare tactics to stop HB 657 (or anything else) from requiring more solar power from Georgia Power. Still no solar tax, said citizens in Savannah, Columbus, Gainesville, Athens, and now Atlanta.

Walter C. Jones wrote for the Florida Times-Union 31 October 2013, Outlook for solar bill isn’t bright in Georgia. Not sure why this picture of me illustrates this story on facebook (I wasn’t at the hearing in Atlanta), but hey, why not.

Claudia Collier with Green Georgia drove from Savannah to speak at the hearing.

“This bill will give us direct choice in where our electricity comes from,” she said.

Rep. Mike Dudgeon, R-Johns Creek, pointed to the amount of solar generation the Public Service Commission ordered Georgia Power to acquire this year.

“It looks like the PSC is already managing the situation,” he said.

As Southern Company CEO Tom Fanning and Georgia Power CEO Paul Bowers well know, Continue reading →

Video of citizens in Athens opposing Georgia Power solar tax

Another city, more citizens opposed to Georgia Power’s solar tax, and to Georgia Power’s rate hikes for fossil fuels and nukes.

Seth Gunning of Georgia Sierra Clug Hyacinth Manacap Empinado wrote for Athens Patch today, “No” To Rate Hike for Georgia Power, Say Residents at Athens Meeting: People urged Public Service Commissioner Tim Echols to vote against the Georgia Power rate hike request.,

Tim Echols GA PSC and Seth Gunning GA Sierra Club Echols says that part of the money will be used to clean up older coal plants and convert some plants to burn cleaner, natural gas.

If approved, Continue reading →

No solar tax –citizens in Gainesville GA

Solar advocate PSC Commissioner Bubba McDonald joined Tim Echols for this one. Citizens said no to Georgia Power’s proposed solar tax, just like in Savannah and Columbus.

Sarah Mueller wrote yesterday for Gainesville Times, Public gives thumbs-down to Georgia Power rate hike,

The Georgia Power Co. rate hike proposal and suggested fees on solar energy installation didn’t get a lot of support from residents who attended a town meeting in Gainesville on Tuesday night.

The Georgia Public Service Commission is reviewing a $482 million three-year rate increase request from the energy company that would add about $7.84 to the average ratepayer’s monthly bill. The Georgia Sierra Club and Georgia Watch has sponsored town meetings around the state this month to let commissioners hear public input on the request. Commissioners Tim Echols and Lauren “Bubba” McDonald participated in the meeting at the Brenau Downtown Center.

Pursuing solar energy as state policy was also a hot topic at the meeting, which was lightly attended. About 10 people spoke, criticizing the proposed hike, the company’s proposed guaranteed profit increase to 11.5 percent and Continue reading →

Columbus against Georgia Power solar tariff

Getting an earful across the state about that proposed solar rate hike: Georgia Power and the Georgia Public Service Commission, first in Savannah, then in Columbus.

Mike Owen wrote for the Ledger-Enquirer 21 October 2013, Georgia Public Service Commission: Public decries Georgia Power rate hike, solar power fee,

A crowd of about 50 people gave Georgia Public Service Commission Chairman Chuck Eaton an earful Monday night concerning a proposed Georgia Power rate hike and controversial proposal to charge solar power users a new fee.

At a public hearing in the auditorium of the Coca-Cola Space Science Center, Eaton heard several audience members call the rate hike “bad business practice” and “unconscionable,” while calling the solar proposal “a step backward” and a “disincentive” for modern, clean technology.

At issue is a two-pronged proposal before the PSC. Georgia Power is asking the commissioners to approve a $482 million rate hike that would add almost $100 a year to average residential electric bills, said Seth Gunning, an organizer for the Sierra Club of Georgia, one of the meeting’s sponsors. It [Georgia Power] is also asking the PSC to allow it to levy a fee on those who install solar panels on their homes or businesses.

The story continues with Continue reading →

Solar tariff damaging to solar growth in Georgia –GSEA

GSEA PR of yesterday about Georgia Power’s attempt to tax rooftop solar generators. Proposed Solar Tariff Unfair and Damaging to Solar Growth in Georgia,

Atlanta, GA — The Georgia Solar Energy Association Chairman Mark Bell said today that the tariff on solar installations proposed in the Georgia Power rate request now under consideration by the Public Service Commission is unfair to solar customers.

The tariff, which will add roughly $22 a month to residential solar customers’ bills beginning in 2014, will have a significant “chilling effect” on the robust growth of solar development now under way in Georgia. Solar investment currently is providing jobs and new infrastructure throughout the state, including its rural areas where economic investment is badly needed. Solar energy is making Georgia farms more cost-effective and productive, and high-demand manufacturing more efficient.

“This proposal penalizes solar at the exclusion of other energy saving methods, which Georgia Power supports. Georgia Power has traditionally Continue reading →