Georgia Power executives said there was no way they could have predicted an ‘unprecedented’ demand for electricity from newtech and manufacturing giants when regulators approved the company’s most recent comprehensive plan in 2022.
Now, they say the company needs to add thousands of megawatts of electricity capacity quickly — too quickly to go through the normal competitive bidding process. Most of that capacity would have to come from fossil fuels, they say.
Regulators sounded skeptical of those and other claims made by company executives Tuesday, 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 megawatts of capacity, before they can take effect. The final ruling is expected on April 16.
Some commissioners sounded annoyed by Georgia Power’s request coming 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,” Commissioner Tricia Pridemore asked.
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 justification for seeking additional capacity, the utility said,is the number of large, new customers, such as data centers. Unlike residents and existing businesses, who have to 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.
Jeffrey Grubb, Georgia Power’s director of resource planning, said the company would still be able to serve its existing customers, including the Hyundai manufacturing megasite near the coast that was announced months before the last resource plan was approved. But he said the utility would need more capacity to sign new large customers.
“Everything that we’ve won is not the driver for this plan,” Grubb said. “This plan is for everything we’ve won plus the potential to continue to support the growth of the state.”
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.
Georgia Power’s latest request comes on the heels of a series of rate increases that have drawn public scrutiny to the company and to the commission that regulates it.
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 than400 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 this week.
Georgia Power wants to:
— Build three new oil- and gas-burning turbines to produce up to 1,400 megawatts (MW) of electricity at Plant Yates in Coweta County.
— Continue buying 750 MW from corporate cousin Mississippi Powerthat 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
This coverage is supported by a partnership with Green South Foundation and Journalism Funding Partners.