Georgia officials and business leaders warned Tuesday that federal plans to cut climate-change pollutants from electricity plants will likely increase power bills in the state.
“It will increase Georgia rates. I guarantee you that,” Chuck Eaton, who chairs the Georgia Public Service Commission, said outside a hearing in Atlanta on the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed rules. The session is one of four held around the nation to gather public input at the state or local level.
But the effect on rates isn’t so clear cut, according to the state’s largest utility.
Ron Shipman, Georgia Power’s vice president of environmental affairs, warned that rates could rise if the company is forced to further limit its use of cheap and reliable coal as fuel. One aspect of the EPA proposal could cost consumers $4 billion to $5 billion over about 10 years, he told a panel of agency officials.
In a follow-up interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, however, Shipman said the company is still reviewing shifting potentials — and that it’s possible rates could even go down with the changes.
“It could be more, it could be less. We don’t know yet,” Shipman said.
The EPA proposed new guidelines nearly two months ago, but the agency is still early in the rule-making process. There is no guarantee on where final restrictions might end up.
The government wants Georgia to slice emissions 44 percent by 2030 compared to 2005. That’s more than all but six states.
Federal officials say the rules give state regulators flexibility in determining how to make reductions. Options include improving power plant efficiency, boosting consumer and business energy efficiency, reducing the use of plants that spit out lots of carbon and adding electricity from nuclear plants or alternative sources such as solar.
That uncertainty complicated the first day of hearings on the White House’s farthest reaching attempt to reduce carbon emissions that scientists say worsen destructive climate change.
At the Atlanta hearing, speakers from around the Southeast including environmental activists, business group leaders, doctors and politicians both criticized and praised the proposed limits on power plants. Sessions ran simultaneously in two rooms of the Omni Hotel, and a second session is scheduled Wednesday. All speaking slots have been filled.
“We need to protect our children and future generations from the worst impacts of global warming,” said Jennette Gayer, director of advocacy group Environment Georgia.
Seth Gunning of the Sierra Club said Georgia officials’ decisions on how to meet the new guidelines will determine the financial impact, including whether significant numbers of jobs are created. He predicts electric rates will drop if Georgia focuses on increased energy efficiency and use of alternative energy such as solar power.
Others who spoke inside and outside of Tuesday’s Atlanta hearing said there are costs of not taking firm action to slow climate change. The concerns ranged from damaging coastal flooding to greater pest infestations in Georgia’s lucrative agricultural industry.
Kelvin Cochran, fire chief for the city of Atlanta, said emergency workers face worsening weather and natural disasters locally. “The cost of not doing something is going to be far greater from a public safety perspective,” he said.
Others predicted that new federal rules will unwisely and illegally undo carefully constructed energy plans laid out by states.
Chris Clark, president of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, said power companies could lose flexibility to choose the most cost-effective fuels, increasing electric rates and hurting rural areas and small businesses.
An agribusiness leader predicted the rules would drive up the cost of natural gas, boosting the price of fertilizer and other farm operations.
Georgia Power’s Shipman said that, “While the overall cost of EPA’s proposal cannot be quantified at this point, EPA’s guidelines clearly force us away from economically operating our generating fleet to the benefit of customers.”
He cited as one example that Georgia Power customers pay could pay $5 billion in higher rates over a decade just from the cost of administering and adding incentives for expanded consumer energy efficiency programs.
Eaton, the chairman of Georgia’s PSC, which regulates some utilities, said new federal rules wouldn’t give states as much flexibility as federal regulators claim.
“It’s basically handcuffing us to natural gas and nuclear,” Eaton said. “If you take coal out of the mix, we don’t have anything to fall back to” if natural gas prices rise sharply.
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