Key role of the Georgia Public Service Commission

The PSC regulates Georgia Power Company, the investor-owned utility that is granted a monopolistic right to provide electricity service across a wide area of Georgia. The company is required by O.C.G.A. § 46-3A-2 to file an Integrated Resource Plan every three years that “demonstrates the economic, environmental, and other benefits to the state and to customers of the utility, associated with improvements in energy efficiency, pooling of power, purchases of power from neighboring states, alternative sources of energy, cogeneration and hydroelectric facilities, and demand-side options.”

Getting it correct—Georgia Power Company’s triennial Integrated Resource Plan—is critical to decarbonize Georgia and catalyze new economic growth.

Key role of the Georgia State Legislature

Since 1973, the Georgia General Assembly has outsourced the management of Georgia’s electricity grid to Georgia Power Company, a private company that consistently puts shareholder interests before those of Georgia or the ratepayer. Simply put, Georgia Power Company profits while failing to decarbonize because they do not pay for their pollution and they are not held accountable for poor investment decisions. This will not change until the Georgia State Legislature enacts comprehensive energy market reforms that require open market competition, sets clean energy targets, requires regional coordination, and provides compensation for distributed energy resources.