What’s next door to Georgia Power, also a Southern Company, and raising rates on customers who are using less electricity? Alabama Power.

Rebecca Smith wrote for WSJ 21 March 2013, Return Rates for Utilities Get Harder Look

Households getting electricity from Alabama Power Co. are using 6% less than five years ago. But their monthly power bills still have increased by an average of 8%, partly because of a lucrative rate agreement that the utility brokered with state regulators 30 years ago.

“an absurd tax upon the rest of their fellow-citizens”
—Adam Smith

The deal allows Alabama Power, the state’s largest electric utility, to adjust its rates annually to maintain a return on equity, a measure of profit, of 13% to 14.5%. Now it is coming under fire from consumer advocates and one state utility commissioner, who argue that the utility’s profit levels are too high.

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