The Georgia Public Service Commission race in the Nov. 4 election is receiving little attention, although PSC action directly affects consumers’ pocketbooks.
Republican Lauren “Bubba” McDonald, the PSC District 4 incumbent, is running against Democrat Daniel Blackman and Libertarian Aaron Gilmer after beating two challengers in the GOP primary. District 1 incumbent Doug Everett, also a Republican, is unopposed.
The PSC’s five members serve staggered six-years terms, with McDonald and Everett the only two up for re-election. Although the commissioners serve districts, they are elected statewide to regulate electric power, natural gas and telecommunications companies.
A major PSC issue will be monitoring Ga. Power’s efforts to conform with new EPA emissions regulations. The utility’s main thrust will be phasing out pollution-causing coal plants, a process already begun when the new regulations were announced.
Ga. Power has fought the EPA’s “1-11-d” guidelines, claiming the emissions reductions will significantly increase electric bills.
“I don’t happen to agree with that,” said Liz Coyle, acting executive director of the nonpartisan consumer advocacy group Georgia Watch.”There’s a tremendous opportunity for the state to develop renewable sources of energy.”
The state can take steps to increase solar and wind power, which would actually bring reduced consumer bills, Coyle said. Georgia Power already plans to produce 525 megawatts of solar power by 2016, and has agreed to purchase 250 megawatts from two Oklahoma wind farms by 2016 at no cost to rate payers.
But additional steps are needed, Coyle said. “There’s plenty of room for a lot more renewable energy, including solar and wind power.”
She also said more advocacy should be done to help “people save money on power by using energy more efficiently,” such as setting thermostats higher when away from home.
The EPA guidelines can prove beneficial in the long run, she said. “We hope the PSC, EPA and Ga. Power will work constructively to comply with those carbon-reduction targets that we think are far better for the people of Georgia,” she said. “They will potentially lower power bills and create a better environment for all of us and an improved quality of life.”
McDonald, who holds a sizable fund-raising lead, pushed Ga. Power to implement its solar power as well as wind-power efforts.
If McDonald wins, as expected, Georgia’s budding solar power industry sees him as a continued strong advocate. According to an article Sunday byThe Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Matt Kempner, McDonald has received strong contributions from solar energy businesses, along with natural gas firms and phone company officials and other businesses with PSC involvement. The newspaper earlier reported that Everett has also received significant solar power contributions.
The newspaper also said in its latest report that the nearly $160,000 McDonald has raised includes more than $9,600 from attorneys for Troutman Sanders, the law firm that represents Ga. Power before the PSC. The utility is forbidden by law from giving to PSC campaigns, but donations from employees, executives and its law firm are legal.
The report raised the question of whether such payments give regulated industries more sway before the PSC than consumers, but McDonald said he’s not influenced by such campaign contributions.
Blackman, meanwhile, has raised nearly $10,500 for what he told the newspaper is “a very grassroots campaign.”
Ga. Power’s efforts to move away from high-emissions coal plants include additions to its nuclear Plant Vogtle. But according to a Sunday article by Associated Press reporter Ray Henry, possible further delays in nuclear plant construction could impede those efforts.
The article reported that SCANA Corp. executives last week announced construction delays for two new nuclear reactors in South Carolina, possibly heralding additional delays for a pair of Plant Vogtle reactors. Georgia Power has not been notified of any new delays, the article said, but the South Carolina and Georgia projects have in the past progressed in tandem because they share the same contractors and parts suppliers.
Speaking about such delays, Coyle told InsiderAdvantage Georgia said that while nuclear reactors are a path to reducing emissions, utilities “don’t seem to get them built in a timely way.”
Plant Vogtle’s first new reactor was supposed to start in April 2016, and the second a year later, the AP story said. Now, even without any new delays, the reactors are scheduled to begin operations in late 2017 and late 2018.
Any new Georgia delays could hurt McDonald’s campaign, the article said.
