Dear Editor,
The statewide election for two seats on Georgia’s Public Service Commission (PSC) is on November 4.
Facts may move you to vote for change in this election if you are tired of endless power bill increases. Any registered Georgia voter can select two candidates, regardless of where they live. Incumbent Tim Echols (R) is running against Alicia Johnson (D) in District 2. Incumbent Fitz Johnson (R) is running against Peter Hubbard (D) in District 3.
GA has the fourth-highest electricity rate in the country because of the PSC. Members determine the cost and reliability of our electric and gas service. Businessman Fitz Johnson gets a whopping 87% of his campaign donations from executives tied to GA Power, Southern Company (GA Power’s parent company), and a law firm representing GA Power. Tim Echols, PSC chair, has received the vast majority of his campaign contributions from the same sources as Fitz Johnson.
When PSC candidates take significant campaign funds from utility-affiliated donors, as Tim Echols and Fitz Johnson do, there’s little wonder how this could affect Commission decisions. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that electricity water-hogging data centers are proliferating across Georgia. These centers pay only a portion of their full costs; we, residential customers, foot the rest of the bill.
Democrat Alicia Johnson said the Commission should invest more in clean energy, rooftop solar, community solar, battery storage, and microgrids to power new industries, such as data centers. Hubbard said he’d proactively seek out new solutions and programs, rather than simply rubber-stamp Georgia Power plans. He is frustrated by the current Commissioners’ lack of response to constituents’ concerns about affordability and climate change.
No one begrudges a company the right to make a profit, but GA Power has grown fat at the trough for too long with the help of the current PSC. It’s time to try somebody new. Let’s all vote on November 4 to stop a cabal of Commissioners who don’t know how to say no to all-powerful Georgia Power.
P. D. Tomporowski, Athens