Georgia Public Service Commission needs more than backbone. Expertise is key.
When I decided to run for the Georgia Public Service Commission, it wasn’t because I wanted a political career.
I’m an engineer, a husband and a father of five. Like other Georgia Power customers, I’ve watched our electricity bills climb through repeated rate increases.
With more than 15 years in power generation, I’ve watched the PSC approve costly investments without enough scrutiny, leaving Georgia families to pay the price.
I knew running meant challenging an incumbent from my own party and powerful utility interests. I wasn’t exactly the favored horse in that race. But I wasn’t running to please a political party or a utility.
I was running because I believed the PSC needed greater technical expertise to make better decisions for Georgia families.
Backbone matters. So does knowing when to use it.
My opponent recently argued that the PSC needs commissioners with backbone (“We don’t have engineering problem at Georgia’s Public Service Commission,” by Shelia Edwards).
I couldn’t agree more.
Last fall, Georgia Power sought approval for nearly 10,000 megawatts of new generating capacity, largely to serve projected data center demand.
I appeared twice before the PSC to challenge the proposal. My concern wasn’t with economic growth or building new power plants. My concern was with Georgia families like mine.
What happens if those data centers never show up? Would families be stuck paying for power plants we didn’t need?
I didn’t simply oppose the expansion. I proposed five concrete solutions:
- Require signed data center contracts before approving new power plants.
- Tie construction spending to actual demand and enforceable milestones.
- Put investors, not ratepayers, at risk for speculative power plants through a separate generation company.
- Encourage data centers to generate their own electricity.
- Plan to sell excess electricity to other utilities if demand falls short.
These solutions could reduce Georgia Power’s profits. Proposing them took a willingness to challenge the utility, while developing them required technical expertise.
Despite my objections, the PSC approved nearly everything Georgia Power requested.
Why technical expertise matters
Holding Georgia Power accountable takes more than good intentions. It requires both backbone and technical expertise. In fact, you can’t challenge what you don’t understand.
Technical expertise doesn’t replace backbone. It strengthens it.
My opponent says the PSC already has technical experts on staff and therefore commissioners don’t need technical expertise. But what happens when the experts disagree?
Georgia Power has its experts, PSC staff has theirs and other parties bring their own. They don’t always reach the same conclusions.
Consider the very expansion proposal I challenged. PSC staff initially opposed Georgia Power’s expansion before ultimately supporting much of it. Would commissioners who understood the engineering have been better equipped to push back?
Staff members don’t cast the votes. Commissioners do.
My opponent points to the warnings PSC engineers raised about Plant Vogtle. She’s right that commissioners should have taken those warnings seriously. But that’s exactly my point.
Having engineers on staff isn’t enough if the people making the decisions don’t understand the warnings or know how to act on them. Call me old-fashioned, but I want our leaders to know as much as possible about the subject they’re responsible for overseeing.
The PSC makes decisions that will affect Georgia families for decades. That includes my own kids. Yet not a single commissioner has an engineering background. That’s the deficiency I entered this race to address.
Georgians deserve commissioners with the courage to stand up to the utility and the knowledge to make good decisions.
A backbone gives you the courage to say no. Expertise gives you the knowledge to know when you should.
Josh Tolbert, Ph.D., P.E., is a licensed professional engineer, a father of five and a candidate for Georgia Public Service Commission District 5.
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The opinions expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.