It’s just a guy in a suit standing next to an empty podium. But keep that image in mind, and if at any time over the next few years you’re upset about your power bill or outraged about the data center they’re building near you, remember it.
Early voting begins this week in the most fouled-up and confusing elections Georgia has seen in many a year, for a single year of service on two seats on the Public Service Commission. Both sides have accused the other of trying to keep down the turnout in these long-delayed contests, and last week’s Atlanta Press Club Loudermilk-Young debate suggests both sides might be right.
The lone candidate in the picture is Democrat Peter Hubbard, who got several minutes of free, if not exactly spellbinding, airtime simply by showing up. The empty podium is for his opponent, Republican PSC Commissioner Fitz Johnson, who wrote in a statement declining the debate that his record spoke for itself, “meaning it doesn’t need a format that rewards soundbites and snark rather than serious discussion of these complex issues.”
There could have been two more empty podiums, but since neither candidate in the race for the other commission seat accepted the debate invitation, there was no point. Every voter in the state gets to vote in both of these elections, even though the candidates must live in specific districts. Don’t bother reading that again — it won’t make any more sense.
Democrat Alicia Johnson, a healthcare executive from Savannah, declined the debate, citing work conflicts. However, Republicans, including Gov. Brian Kemp, say Democrats are hoping for a low-turnout race because increased turnout for municipal elections will give them a boost in areas where their base is strong.
“They’re hoping nobody pays attention to this race. They don’t even want people to know that there is a race,” Kemp said last week at a rally for the Republican candidates in Cumming.
Incumbent Commissioner Tim Echols told the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer that since Johnson declined the debate, he wouldn’t attend. But earlier, in an email to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Echols was much more frank.
“The turnout in this election is going to be so small that I am totally focused on getting my base voters out,” he said. “They will not be streaming Georgia Public Broadcasting.”
At the Cumming rally, Echols leaned into the cultural politics of the voters he doesn’t think people stream GPB.
“She wants to bring DEI and wokeness to the PSC. We simply can’t let that happen, can we?” Echols said.
Because of delays related to a lawsuit challenging the way the commissioners are elected, Echols has not faced the voters since 2016. Johnson, who was appointed to the commission in 2021, is running in his first election. Echols claimed at the rally, drumming up the Republican vote, that he was frightened by the size of the Democratic primary turnout in June.
But as detailed in a Monday Atlanta Journal-Constitution story, Echols and Johnson have a huge fundraising lead over their Democratic challengers, built up during the long hiatus between elections with contributions from a lot of people involved in businesses regulated by the PSC. The three-year Georgia Power base rate freeze, which the incumbents are holding up as their biggest accomplishment, is also being energetically promoted in an ad paid for by the utility.
How does that freeze fit into an envisioned gigantic increase in demand? What about the storm recovery costs that aren’t included in the base rate? Those would be important issues to debate, sound bites and snark notwithstanding. The last time either of these PSC seats was up for grabs, cryptocurrency was in its infancy, and artificial intelligence was unknown outside a few research labs. It would have been nice to know the candidates’ views on those developments.
In his one-man appearance, Hubbard made some large claims for what renewables and batteries could accomplish if they were fully employed. It would have been interesting to see how he would have responded if those claims were seriously challenged by his opponent, but that’s a lot to ask of an empty podium.
These elections have been configured in a way that seems almost calculated to confuse voters, and strategists on both sides are counting on not a lot of people showing up. So what’s a concerned citizen to do? Vote.
The 3 year base rate freeze the incumbents are touting as their biggest accomplishment is extremely deceptive. The base rate has been increased 6 times in 2 years and has resulted in a 11.9% profit margin for Georgia Power, one of the highest in the country. The base rate does not include fuel surcharges, service fees and storm recovery costs so rates can actually increase even with a base rate freeze. With Georgia Power profits of $2.5 billion in 2024, no wonder they are “energetically promoting” the rate freeze to help the current incumbents retain their seats on the PSC.
The incumbents are scared to run on their record of raising rates 6 times in 2 years, and approving a ginormous $15 Billion build-out of gas, coal and oil burning power plants that GA Power customers will be paying for after the freeze ends until eternity. That freeze at 12% return on investment is great for GA Power shareholders and avoids the rate case where it could have been lowered.
The recklessness at which the current PSC rubber-stamps every profit-driving scheme of Georgia Power while taking hundreds of thousands of dollars of campaign donations is galling. None of the current PSC are customers of Georgia Power. But all of them are approving plans that are hurting — *really* hurting — millions of Georgians while GP’s profit goes through the roof. The only help we have is via the PSC. We must vote for change.
In conversation with numerous hourly wage earners who cannot afford their rising power bills, I see the impact of the multiple recent rate increases: some Georgians are forced to decide between paying for electricity and paying for food.
This is very informative!