NOTICE:
PSC Candidate on the Ballot;
PSC Controls Utility Rates

Radio Commentary, WMVV 90.7 New Life FM, October 15, 2010
By Sue Ella Deadwyler

Good morning, Jim. One of the least talked-about elections facing us in November is that of a Public Service Commissioner. Georgia’s five Public Service Commissioners are constitutional officers and, as such, are elected by all Georgia voters, although they represent different districts in the state. Their terms are staggered, so there’s never a completely new PSC. This year, the commissioner of District 2 will be elected to take office January 1st and serve through December 2016.

We don’t hear much about the PSC until a utility company wants to raise rates or change the service. But, through its four divisions, PSC does much more than determine rate hikes for public utilities. The four divisions are one each for electricity, natural gas, transportation and telecommunications. So the PSC affects all consumers in Georgia and many consumers in neighboring states. One of their least-known jobs is to conduct a periodic review of the state’s nuclear power plants, including Plant Vogtle near Augusta, where PSC is overseeing its $6.4 billion expansion.

The PSC has hearings all the time and you’re welcome to participate. Three days from now they will discuss a telecommunications agreement between AT&T and Sprint. Later this month PSC takes on an Atlanta Gas Light Company request for a rate increase that could add $2.63 to each customer’s monthly bill. Then, in November they begin hearing Georgia Power’s pitch for another utility rate change.

If that weren’t enough, tucked away in the federal stimulus bill of 2009 is a new responsibility from the federal government, requiring the PSC to report fraud, waste or abuse of stimulus funds appropriated for public utilities. To do that, the PSC must create three new full-time-staff electricity specialists for a period of four years and train 20 PSC staff in key emerging areas of regulation. One of those areas concerns facilities to accommodate plug-in receptacles for electric vehicles, which is a very complicated process for recharging run-down batteries on electric automobiles. Since PSC actions affect all our lives, it’s absolutely necessary to vote for the candidate who’ll look out for consumers and assure access to various utilities at the best possible rates. For Georgia Insight I’m Sue Ella Deadwyler, your Capitol correspondent.