May 3, 2011

Higher Georgia Power base rates took effect in January 2011, causing an average customer’s bill to increase by almost $11 per month. Georgia Power customers also started paying the Nuclear Construction Cost Recovery charge in January 2011 – almost $4.00 per month for the average customer.

Since many customers have already seen their bills increase by almost $15 per month or more, take control of your electricity usage in the upcoming summer months by adopting these good habits: Read more

April 20, 2011

As the next step of ongoing negotiations between Georgia Power and state regulators, the Public Service Commission has scheduled special hearings on a proposal to control construction costs for the two new reactors at Plant Vogtle. State regulators at the PSC want to incentivize Georgia Power to finish the new units on time and under budget. They have urged commissioners to adopt a risk sharing mechanism (RSM) that slightly reduces Georgia Power’s profit margin if construction costs rise above $6.4 billion, or $300 million over budget. Read more

April 15, 2011

The 2011 session was another slow-moving, drawn out session that has become typical in recent years. Once again, the state is facing declining revenues, which made setting a budget a difficult process. Overall, consumer-friendly measures saw little real action, while several potentially harmful measures moved quickly. Here is a wrap-up of some of the consumer issues that Georgia Watch was following in 2011. Read more