The utility makes more income per customer than any comparable company in the U.S.
(Atlanta, Georgia) A new analysis of FERC data by Georgians for Affordable Energy and Georgia Conservation Voters reveals that Georgia Power – the investor owned monopoly serving approximately 2.7 million customers in the Peach State – earned $92.56 of net operating income per customer – per month – in 2024. This figure was significantly higher than any comparable company in the United States – nearly $13 more than the second-ranked utility, Florida Power and Light, and $30 more than the average comparable company earns per month. The analysis comes as the utility company holds its annual shareholders meeting and is set to announce record profits. Georgia Power and the Georgia Public Service Commission’s Public Interest Advocacy Staff reached an agreement behind closed doors that shields incumbent Commissioners from the embarrassment of explaining their relentless approvals of the company’s bill increases over several planned Rate Case hearings this fall.
Brionté McCorkle, the Executive Director of Georgia Conservation Voters, summed up the developments, saying,“Realizing that it’s gone too far in its profiteering, Southern Company now hopes to protect its interests by gifting incumbent Commissioners a misleading headline. Voters know the score, though. They live it every month when that bill comes due. The PSC has voted to raise bills several times since 2023, and these increases had nothing to do with the base rates.”
The analysis, spearheaded by Patty Durand, Executive Director of Georgians for Affordable Energy, utilizes data from HData, a platform providing regulatory data on the energy sector. Durand previously campaigned for a seat on the Public Service Commission but was forced to disband the campaign after an incumbent conspired to gerrymander the utility expert out of the district in a widely panned move. Durand formed Georgians for Affordable Energy to continue to fight for everyday households struggling under the weight of Georgia Power’s unequaled profiteering.
“Executives, Public Service Commissioners, and Governor Kemp can hide behind whatever creative accounting, misleading language, or sleight of hand they want – the math is the math. Georgians will no longer be gaslit by a state-sanctioned monopoly built on old money and greed,” said Durand while waiting for the start of a hastily-called press conference by Governor Kemp.
Monday’s announced Stipulated Agreement between the utility company and the Public Interest Advocacy Staff of the Public Service Commission included welcome news that base rates would remain at current levels for three years. However, 70% of the bill increases from 2023 onward were not due to rate increases, but rather variable fuel costs and the impact of the Commission’s mismanagement of the Plant Vogtle project, now the most expensive power plant in human history. These vulnerabilities are why the American Legislative Exchange Council’s recently released Energy Affordability report ranks Georgia #35 out of 50 states. A former member of the Public Intererest Advocacy staff is working with Georgia Conservation Voters on the organization’s expert testimony in the 2025 Integrated Resource Planning process.
Governor Kemp held a 9 AM press conference at the State Capitol today with Commissioners Bubba McDonald and Jason Shaw. During this time, he bragged about $500/year tax refunds. He did not mention that the bill increases approved by the men standing on either side of him cost Georgians $503/year, before this year’s 3.5% rate increase, making one of his signature policies no more than a passthrough for further state money to go to Southern Company’s Wall Street shareholders. Conspicuously absent was Commissioner Tim Echols, who recently admitted to advocates that some IRP decisions had already been made behind closed doors in violation of Rule 515-2-1-.01 Opinions of Commissioners. This comes before Intervenors in the Integrated Resource Process have even had a chance to present their testimony.
A Quick Guide to Seeing Through This Week’s Announcement:
Cost to Customers
FACT: “Rates” are not the same as “Bills.” Like Ticketmaster, before the Biden Administration’s recent rule took effect, utility bills have hidden fees. Of the $43.22 average residential bill increase for Georgia Power customers since 2023, $30.32 came from bill increases associated with the Commission’s mismanagement of the Plant Vogtle project or rising fuel costs which are passed directly onto customer bills. Only $12.90 came from rate increases.
FACT: This new agreement does not guarantee a bill freeze.
FACT: In its 2023 Amended Integrated Resource Plan filing, the company projected a $2.89 bill lowering. They now admit that this lowering will not, in fact, materialize, adding another chapter to its fraught history with projection accuracy.
FACT: This new agreement effectively raises the company’s target Return on Investment to a full percentage point above the national average and its threshold for ROI to nearly two percentage points above the national average. At this scale, 1% equals $2-3 billion in profit.
FACT: The American Legislative Exchange Council’s recently released Energy Affordability report ranks Georgia #35 out of 50 states based on the mismanagement of nuclear projects and the company’s overreliance on methane gas.
FACT: Sen. Matt Brass refused to pass SB 34 out of Rules Committee this spring, which would have guaranteed that customers wouldn’t be on the hook for the cost of servicing Data Centers.
FACT: Georgians pay the second-highest prices for methane gas in the country.
Transparency and Democracy
FACT: Public Service Commissioner Tim Echols is openly bragging to advocates about having already made decisions behind closed doors in violation of Rule 515-2-1-.01 Opinions of Commissioners. This comes before Intervenors in the Integrated Resource Process have even had a chance to present their testimony.
FACT: Lt. Governor Burt Jones refused to call SB94 to a vote on Crossover Day. Passing Sen. Hufstetler’s bill would restore the Consumer Utility Counsel (CUC) position, which 45 other states view as a critical advocacy role for consumers. Had this position been in place, they could have intervened and allowed public insight into this backroom dealmaking.
FACT: The company’s promised “open and transparent” process to determine the recovery of damages from storms like Hurricane Helene won’t happen this year as scheduled. As a result, bills will undoubtedly rise by this time next year. Storms like Hurricane Helene are made worse by decisions like Georgia Power’s to walk back the planned retirement of dangerous, expensive coal plants.
FACT: Since the last time elections were allowed, incumbents have accepted ~$240,000 in donations from company executives, lawyers, and lobbyists associated with them.
FACT: This is the second move by the company in recent years to circumvent the legislatively mandated process designed to ensure transparency and accountability, following their unexpected “Amended IRP” in 2023. Even though the company had never taken such an action before, and that it was done in response to what the company itself described as an unprecedented growth in expected demand, Aaron Mitchell, then-Vice President of Pricing and Planning at Georgia Power, characterized it as an ordinary decision. “This update is a routine kind of thing we do with the commission,” said Mitchell. Drawdown Georgia notes that the PSC granted all but one of the company’s major requests.
FACT: Adding to the closed-door sessions, the majority of the electricity the company claims it needs, primarily driven by data center demand that may or may not fully materialize, wasn’t included in the 2025 Integrated Resource Plan filing. Instead, it’s in a mysterious RFP with enough electricity to power every home and small business in Georgia.
Corporate and Commissioner Greed
FACT: Georgia Power’s top two executives, Tom Fanning and Chris Womack, made over $55 million in 2023, making them the #1 and #4 highest-paid utility executives in the country.
FACT: Echols also promoted his podcast and said that Georgia needs another four nuclear reactors, which, even at 50% of Plant Vogtle 3 and 4 costs, would cost voters more than Georgia’s entire annual state budget and add at least another $14 to customer bills.
FACT: Southern Company, Georgia Power’s parent, saw profits rise 19% in the first three months of 2025 compared to 2024 for a total of $1.3 billion in Q1. Georgia Power, its largest earner, had to settle for $600 million in Q1 profits, up a mere 36% YoY.
