Public Service Commissioner (PSC) Bubba McDonald recently penned an opinion piece to complain about the AJC’s accurate reporting that profits at GA Power’s parent company are up 43% even as customers struggle to pay rising bills. Instead of taking responsibility for the results of his own leadership as Chair of the PSC, Bubba attempted to gaslight readers. Apparently, McDonald believes the truth is biased against him. No one told him that’s not how facts work.
Let’s start with his assertion that high energy prices result from all the air conditioning units working overtime in the summer. “Prices are naturally higher in the summer months.” This is a blatant misdirection because he’s not actually talking about the price of the power but the amount of power consumed. It also admits that GA Power has a financial stake in rising temperatures because it makes more money the hotter it gets. Even as Georgians become more at risk for heat-related injury as the climate warms, their bottom line improves. Now, McDonald isn’t a GA Power customer. He enjoys the services of an EMC, which keeps his bill well below what most Georgia Power customers pay. Here’s how rate increases have impacted me personally as a Georgia Power customer:
2023 July – Usage 1083 kWh, $193.54
2024 July – Usage 1287 kWh, $264.68
My usage increased 19%, but my bill went up 37%—all while Georgia Power made $750 million in profits in Q2 2024. Maybe McDonald doesn’t care that much—or maybe he doesn’t want to admit that these exorbitant rate increases happened on his watch.
Despite the overwhelming industry understanding that fuel prices are rising because of the war in Ukraine, the destruction of the Nord Stream pipeline, and the economy exiting pandemic lockdowns, McDonald contends that the volatility of fuel prices are because of “Green New Deal” policies. Not only do policies like “replacing lead pipes” not impact the price of fuel, but clean energy solutions like community solar (which his commission has refused to expand) are actually more energy efficient and affordable than the massive gas and nuclear plants which he’s championed relentlessly. Even fellow Public Service Commissioner Tim Echols admits that the war in Ukraine is primarily responsible for natural gas increases. McDonald’s own piece cites a Capitol Beat article quoting Chris Womack, Georgia Power’s chairman, president, and CEO, who said that “the company expects to file a request… for unrecovered fuel costs to account for the volatility of the energy market resulting from factors including… the impacts of the war in Ukraine.”
He notes with pride that the new Plant Vogtle units will provide carbon-free power for up to 1 Million homes and businesses. He doesn’t state that up to half of that power is eaten up by data centers already built or under construction. GA Power announced a revised energy plan two years early that projects a 17x increase in demand – pointing largely to data center construction. Unlike nearby providers like Duke Energy, though, GA Power doesn’t include only projects with significant commitments but rather anything they think may come to fruition. When it comes to their projections, it’s unfortunately difficult to know what is probable versus merely possible.
Speaking of blown projections, the Commission passed $7.56 Billion dollars in Vogtle construction costs onto everyday Georgians. Remember, we’re paying that much so that Microsoft can have better Artificial Intelligence. These Vogtle units, he warns, are also important because “Georgians don’t want to suffer brownouts or blackouts as happen in other states.” Meanwhile, Texas based experts featured in Valdosta Today rank Georgia the 3rd worst state in the country for summer blackouts and brownouts. Recently, the Macon Telegraph reported that Hurricane Debby caused over 100,000 people to lose power. Storms like Debby will only increase in frequency due to humanity’s influence on the climate, and McDonald along with our other Public Service Commissioners are directly responsible for mitigating that influence through a transition to clean energy.
The main factor increasing power bills in Georgia is McDonald’s failure of leadership during his time as Chair of the Public Service Commission. His claim to be hamstrung by state law does not absolve McDonald from his responsibility to protect Georgians’ pocketbooks. The truth is that Old McDonald has a cash cow, hard working Georgians, and he’s going to continue to take us to market for as long as voters let him do so.
BRIONTÉ MCCORKLE, ATLANTA
Brionté McCorkle is the Executive Director of Georgia Conservation Voters