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Georgia Power raises rates again
Georgia Power customers, your electric bill is about to go up again. The energy supplier is bringing two nuclear reactors online. State regulators have approved a plan that will allow Georgia Power to pass the costs on to you, the consumer. This is in addition to the rate hikes the company pushed through earlier this year.
ATLANTA – Georgia Power customers' electric bills will rise again. The energy supplier puts two new nuclear reactors into operation. State regulators on Tuesday approved a plan that would allow Georgia Power to pass the costs on to consumers. This is in addition to the interest rate hikes the company pushed through earlier in the year.
The Georgia Public Service Commission approved the $10 billion plan to cover cost overruns for the new reactors at the Vogtle power plant near Augusta. The company will pay almost $3 billion. Customers will have to shoulder $8 billion.
Starting next spring, the average customer's energy bill will rise 5% to about $8.95 per month.
Georgia Power already pushed through two rate increases earlier this year, raising bills for the average ratepayer to about $20 a month, hitting customers at a time when inflation is leveling off but still painful.
“Bad news,” said Merci Treaster, a Georgia Power customer. “It’s another increase as everything else goes up and the cost of food and things like that goes up.”
“It hurts me a lot,” Patrick Garrett said. “It’s already high enough.”
The Vogtle Nuclear Power Plant is a two-unit nuclear power plant in Burke County, near Waynesboro, Georgia in the United States. Each unit has a Westinghouse Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) with a General Electric turbine and an electric generator, approximately…
Kimberly Scott, executive director of Georgia WAND, a nonprofit that advocates for environmental justice, says another price increase will hit many Georgians at a time when they can barely afford it.
“That is unreasonable. We are seeing so many rate increases in a short period of time,” Scott said. “That would harm a lot of people. When I look at my bill, I ask myself, “What do I need to do to cover these costs each month?”
Georgia Power released a statement: “We believe this decision by the Georgia PSC recognizes the perspectives of all stakeholders and takes a balanced approach that recognizes the value of this long-term energy asset to the state of Georgia and the affordability needs of customers.”
The tariff increase is scheduled to come into force on March 31st.