Georgia Power has received approval from the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) on its rate request that will help enable the company to continue making investments in strengthening and further securing the electric grid, transforming its power generation to include cleaner and more economical energy resources and continue improving the customer experience.
“Since the start of the rate request process, we asked the PSC to set rates at a level that supports the essential, critical investments needed to meet our state’s evolving energy needs,” said Chris Womack, chairman, president and CEO, Georgia Power. “Today’s decision does that while also balancing affordability needs for customers. Through this process, we were able to bring forth a plan that considered all perspectives, manages the impact to customers and supports our continued focus on providing clean, safe, reliable and affordable energy to Georgians.”
As approved, effective Jan. 1, 2023, the typical residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt-hours per month would see a bill increase of approximately $3.60 per month. The first-year rate impact on the average retail customer is 2.6% followed by increases of approximately 4.5% in each of the next two years.
The Commission’s decision also approves several changes to the company’s rate request that were presented as part of a stipulated agreement between the company, PSC staff and a group of intervenors that reduced the company’s three-year rate request by nearly 40% down to $1.8 billion.
This supports critical investments in:
- Strengthening the electric grid - Making the grid safer, more reliable and more secure to improve service and reduce outages through transmission and distribution infrastructure investments including enhancing substations, replacing transformers, moving power lines underground and more. These investments improve reliability, reduce both the number and duration of outages, minimize repair time and contribute to a better customer experience.
- Transforming how we make energy - Utilizing cleaner and more economical ways to generate power to help keep customer rates affordable - transitioning our generation resources and continuing to serve customers with a diverse and balanced portfolio of generation resources, which include additional cost-effective renewable sources.
- Investing in renewables and cleaner energy resources - Deploying new and expanded resources in solar, hydro and energy storage to continue reducing carbon emissions - with plans to double our renewable generation resources by adding 6,000 MW by 2035.
- Enhancing operations and improving the customer experience - Investing in technology to enhance our customers’ experience, including investments in a new Customer Information System that enables customer service employees to quickly access customer information and provide more comprehensive and timely solutions; preparing for an integrated software resource platform that offers real-time visibility into the impact of distributed energy resources on the electric system; and investments in the infrastructure and technology needed to support the continued growth of electric transportation in Georgia.
