Georgia Power Accused of Overcharging Customers by $1.87B

ATLANTA — Three solar energy groups opposed to a request by Georgia Power to revise several fees it charges residential customers have accused the state’s largest utility of “massive over-collection of revenue” in testimony submitted to the state’s Public Service Commission.

According to the Solar Energy Industry Association, the Georgia Solar Energy Industries Association and Vote Solar, annual reports that Georgia Power has submitted to the commission in recent years suggests it has collected $1.87 billion beyond the target revenue established by the regulatory agency.

Now the utility is proposing a significant rate hike that will charge Georgians an additional $16.29 per month on average, as well as a steep $200 interconnection fee for rooftop solar customers, the groups claim. 

“When utilities feel threatened by customers choosing solar and exercising their energy freedom, all ratepayers get squeezed,” said Kevin Lucas, SEIA’s senior director of utility regulation and policy and lead author of the joint testimony. 

“Georgia Power Company has been over-collecting from Georgian’s electric bills by an average of $26 annually over the last 11 years,” he continued. “If that wasn’t enough, GPC is now asking state regulators to approve more rate hikes and rate structure changes that will penalize solar customers and eliminate choices for ratepayers to control their bills.”

Georgia Power, headquartered in Atlanta, is the largest of the four electric utilities that are owned and operated by Southern Company. 

It is an investor-owned utility that services more than 2.4 million customers in all but four of Georgia’s 159 counties. It also employs approximately 9,000 workers throughout the state.

According to the filing, the collection overages appear to be the result of an earnings “band” allowed by the commission, which has a policy of allowing the company to collect revenue beyond the level set by the commission. 

This band was created to allow the utility to keep its books balanced over time — buffeting losses in lean years by pulling in some additional earnings in plentiful years.

But the three groups claim Georgia Power has dramatically surpassed the earnings target by wide margins since 2011.

They also assert that after earnings reach a certain threshold, Georgia Power is required by regulation to return portions of the excess earnings to customers. 

In fact, the utility has met this threshold and refunded customers on their power bills six times in the past 11 years, they claim.

As a result, they say, the utility’s current request for rate increase and $1.4 million in cost recovery should be considered excessive and unwarranted. 

“Georgia families are already feeling the strain of inflation, and Georgia Power’s rate hikes are both needless and exorbitant,” Allison Kvien, Vote Solar’s southeast regulatory director, said in a written statement.. 

“The Public Service Commission has an opportunity to protect the rights of ratepayers to choose solar for their homes or businesses. I urge them to rise to the occasion and prioritize energy freedom over the profit margins of monopoly utilities,” she said.

Georgia Power has yet to respond to the groups’ claims.

Dan can be reached at [email protected] and at https://twitter.com/DanMcCue.