An attorney for the U.S. Department of Defense accused Georgia Power executives Wednesday of ignoring opportunities to develop clean power for existing customers — instead chasing new business by burning more planet-warming fossil fuels.
John McNutt spoke on behalf of federal agencies at a regulatory hearing on Georgia Power’s request to increase the utility’s electricity capacity, which it said was needed for it to remain competitive for industries looking to come to Georgia. Most of that new capacity requested would be powered by fossil fuels.
McNutt pointed to a non-binding memorandum of understanding signed last year in which Georgia Power’s parent company, Southern Company, agreed to develop carbon pollution-free electricity options for federal facilities in its service areas, including seven major military installations in Georgia.
“Why didn’t you include our requirements in your [plan], since we’re one of your existing customers, not some potential future hypothetical customer?” McNutt said. “To my knowledge, and I work for the Army, you haven’t even talked to us about those possibilities.”
Some of the regulators who will ultimately vote on the request also sounded skeptical of the plan.
“It almost feels like we’re in a hurry,” Commissioner Tim Echols told the Georgia Power executives. “When we’re rushing, I wonder if we’re more prone to make a mistake.”
Jeffrey Grubb, Georgia Power’s director of resource planning, said the company “had to act pretty quickly to take advantage of the forecast that we see and to make sure that we can support the load from the customers that want to come to the state of Georgia.”
Grubb and his colleagues said there was no way they could have predicted an ‘unprecedented’ demand for electricity from new tech and manufacturing giants when regulators approved the company’s most recent comprehensive plan in 2022. Now, they say the company needs to quickly add thousands of megawatts (MW) of electricity capacity — too quickly to go through the normal competitive bidding process.
Tuesday was the first day of hearings in Georgia Power’s surprise request to amend its comprehensive energy and business plan, known as an “integrated resource plan.” Georgia Power, a regulated monopoly utility, was not scheduled to update its plan until 2025.
The five-member Public Service Commission (PSC) must vote on the proposed amendments, which include adding 3,400 MW of capacity, before they can take effect. The final ruling is expected on April 16.
Some commissioners sounded annoyed that Georgia Power’s request came so soon after they approved the most recent plan.
“Talk with me about why I should have any confidence whatsoever in these projections when the 2022 projections were so off,” asked Commissioner Tricia Pridemore.
Company representatives at the hearing walked a fine line, insisting that their methodology and projections for the last approved plan were sound but that in order to remain competitive, the utility needs additional capacity.
The utility said it must have greater capacity because of new, large customers such as data centers coming to Georgia. Unlike residents and existing businesses, who must buy electricity from the provider assigned to their area, large commercial or industrial customers building new facilities have the freedom to choose their power provider. Georgia Power’s competitors are the dozens of nonprofit electric cooperatives in the state, some of which have landed high-profile customers like Facebook parent Meta by building more solar arrays to help corporations meet their renewable energy goals.
Grubb said the utility would still be able to serve its existing customers. But he said the utility would need more capacity to sign new large customers.
Grubb insisted that adding capacity and customers would apply “downward pressure” on rates for everyone, but company representatives stopped short of promising that rates would not go up for customers.
“I think we’ve mitigated that risk significantly,” said Lee Evans, director of economics for the Southern Company, Georgia Power’s parent.
This latest request comes after a series of rate increases that have drawn public scrutiny of the company and the PSC.
In 2023, a year of record-breaking heat for the planet, Georgia Power customers saw a base rate increase of about $4 a month. Just a few months later, the commission approved another increase of about $16 a month to cover the cost of fuel. In December, they approved another 10% increase for cost overruns and delays in construction for Georgia Powers’ two new nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle. Base rates are scheduled to rise again in 2024.
Georgia Power executives also faced questions from intervenors in the case.
Scott Dunbar of the Clean Energy Buyers Association (CEBA), which represents more than 400 companies — including tech giants like Amazon, Google, Meta and Microsoft — pointed out that most large corporations have their own clean energy goals that would not be served by more fossil fuels.
“Did Georgia Power account for the clean energy requirements of its customers?” Dunbar asked.
“Not specifically,” Grubb said.
Hearings are expected to continue next month.
Georgia Power wants to:
- Build three new oil- and gas-burning turbines to produce up to 1,400 MW of electricity at Plant Yates in Coweta County.
- Continue buying 750 MW from corporate cousin Mississippi Power that will postpone the retirement of a coal-fired plant in that state.
- Continue purchasing 230 MW from a gas-fired power plant in Florida.
- Add 1,000 MW of new battery storage. That includes a project that would pair 200 MW of new solar with a 200 MW battery energy storage system (BESS), plus a similar-sized BESS connecting to existing solar at Robbins and Moody Air Force bases.
A note of disclosure
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