Fresh Loaf

Earlier this year, Georgia Power made themselves a bunch of enemies with Senate Bill 31, a controversial piece of legislation sponsored by state Sen. Don Balfour, R-Snellville, that allows the utility to charge customers in advance for two new proposed nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle near Augusta, Ga.

The bill’s proponents said the rate hike, which would cover the reactors’ financing costs, was necessary to build the costly white elephants. Consumer groups, libertarians, conservatives, liberals — hell, even senior citizens — fumed at the proposed tacked-on cost. Nonetheless, SB 31 passed, and starting in 2011 ratepayers will see an additional $1.30 each month on their energy bills. The monthly fee will roughly double every year, topping out at an estimated $9.30 a month — or $108 a year — in 2017.

Well, Uncle Sam might give Georgia Power ratepayers a little bit of a reprieve from those Plant Vogtle charges. The U.S. Department of Energy is set to bestow $18 billion in federal financing to four utilities that could boost nuclear energy production. And those Plant Vogtle reactors are reportedly on the federal agency’s shortlist.

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State Sen. Don Balfour, R-Snellville, opposes a proposed Gwinnett County tax hike, arguing that an economic downturn is not the time to raise taxes. But, during the recent General Assembly, he successfully pushed legislation to start billing Georgians next year for two nuclear reactors that won’t be completed until 2017.

“A tax increase … amounts to more financial strain on the taxpayer. People do not have the ability to pay more for government services right now.”
—    Balfour, from a June 11 AJC op-ed

“If we pay for the interest now, we’re saving money.”
—    Balfour, as quoted in the AJC Jan. 16, defending his plan to bill Georgia Power ratepayers upfront for the nukes

“The pre-payments would force current customers to subsidize future customers. … It is real money that they must pay years before it would otherwise be due.”
—    From the Feb. 6 report on Balfour’s bill by the Public Service Commission staff

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It’s hard to read through the clean-energy jargon, but an article in PV Tech — “your daily dose of photovoltaic technology developments and solar news” — has some big news.

Georgia Power, the Atlanta-based utility that has insisted time and again that solar power won’t work in the Peach State, is conducting a yearlong project — on its downtown headquarters’ roof — to test which solar power technology offers the biggest bang for its buck.

[Georgia Power] plans to have seven “representative” module technologies installed on its headquarters’ roof, all with the same position and orientation to the sun, run them for a year, sort through and analyze the data, and see which ones perform best (and provide some clean juice to the building in the bargain).

Four of those techonologies are already in place on Georgia Power’s roof, PV Tech’s Tom Cheyney reports. Norcross-based Suniva installs its technology next week.

What caught my eye were the quotes from the utility’s clean-energy experts that says “yeah, for years, we didn’t know how effective solar power works in metro Atlanta” — even though the utility’s suits have repeatedly told lawmakers and electricity rate-setters that the zero-carbon technology just somehow wouldn’t work in metro Atlanta.

(more…)

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Georgia Trend magazine this month bestowed Georgia Power CEO Mike Garrett with the title “Most Respected Georgia Businessman.”

You think it’d be a fluff piece. But Garrett’s profile — which in the print edition is bordered by sycophantic ads hilariously congratulating the CORPORATE TITAN for this monumental achievement — is actually eye-opening.

Georgia Trend editor Susan Percy provides some additional details on the utility’s strong-arm effort to pass Senate Bill 31 during the most recent legislative session. That bill, which was recently signed by Gov. Sonny Perdue, allows Georgia Power to charge ratepayers in advance for the financing costs on two new proposed reactors at Plant Vogtle. It was widely lambasted. But bad ideas under the Gold Dome have a way of growing legs and becoming law.

Percy’s one of the first journalists we’ve seen to ask Garrett on the record about the controversial legislation — as well as the steamrollin’ way the bill was shoved down lawmakers’ throats.

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There must be something in the ventilation system over at the Public Service Commission that’s making those folks more than usually loopy. Yesterday, the PSC voted 3-2 to elect Commissioner Stan Wise as board chairman for a two-year term. There’s just one problem with this maneuver: It’s illegal as hell.

Bobby Baker

And it’s not as if PSC members can claim to be unaware of the law that mandates how chairmen are selected, because they tried to get the law changed during the recent General Assembly. That attempt failed; it appears this is their back-up plan.

Since 1992, Georgia law has called for the PSC chairmanship to rotate on an annual basis. Legislation sponsored by Rep. Don Parsons, R-Marietta, (but reportedly written by newly elected Commissioner Lauren “Bubba” McDonald) would have allowed the board to elect its own chairman for a three-year term. The bill passed the House, but stalled in the Senate.

As reported by the increasingly invaluable Atlanta Unfiltered, current PSC Chairman Doug Everett announced Monday that he was resigning from that post as of July 1. He then made a motion nominating Wise as chairman for the next two years, with McDonald to serve as vice-chairman. The motion passed 3-2, with members Chuck Eaton and Bobby Baker voting against it. Eaton has written a letter asking Attorney General Thurbert Baker to weigh in on the matter.

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Plant Vogtle

The Fulton County Taxpayers Foundation and its president John Sherman filed a lawsuit Wednesday in Fulton County Superior Court over Senate Bill 31, a controversial piece of legislation that allows Georgia Power to begin charging customers in advance for two new proposed nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle.

The lawsuit names the Georgia Public Service Commission, the quasi-judicial state agency that decides how much you pay for your electricity, and Gov. Sonny Perdue, who signed the bill on April 21, as defendants.

During the legislative session, a diverse group of critics called the bill unfair because some industrial customers are exempt from the rate hike. They also said the issue belonged in the Georgia Public Service Commission, where a full-time staff examines and studies the complicated issue of nuclear financing. Georgia Power hired more than 70 lobbyists the push the bill.

In court documents, the foundation’s attorney John Woodham — the lone-wolf barrister who successfully fought the Beltline’s main funding mechanism all the way to Georgia Supreme Court — calls the bill unconstitutional on numerous grounds.

View the 53-page lawsuit here (PDF). It’s a long and complicated read for those not learned in the language of legalese. But it lays the groundwork of what’s sure to be an interesting battle over one of the past legislative session’s most controversial issues.

(Courtesy Nuclear Regulatory Commission)

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“This place is for sale,” muttered the disgusted Democratic state representative a few minutes after one of the strangest episodes in recent Gold Dome history.

The lawmaker had walked out of the House chamber last Wednesday following a much-watched vote on Gov. Sonny Perdue’s pet bill to snatch road-building authority away from the state Department of Transportation — a vote that Speaker Glenn Richardson held open for nearly five breathless minutes while his henchmen worked the room to persuade a handful of pliable pols to switch their votes.

When Richardson, whose podium houses a private voting scoreboard, saw that enough legislators had flip-flopped, he called for voting machines to be locked and cast the deciding vote himself to pass the hot-potato measure to the Senate.

No one said sausage-making is pretty. But in addition to looking ugly and smelling worse, much of the sausage produced of late by Georgia lawmakers is chock-full of legislative salmonella.

(more…)

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This could be interesting.

From the office of state Senate Minority Leader Robert Brown of Macon comes a press release titled “Mending Georgia Power.”

The Georgia Power tax-bill, SB31, sailed through the chambers of the state assembly this session. Emphasizing the need to limit the damage of the Georgia Power tax, Senator Robert Brown will be holding a press conference tomorrow, March 19th, at 11:30 A.M. in the Senate Press Office. Senator Brown will discuss legislation addressing issues that have surfaced in the wake of Georgia Power’s evasion of Georgia’s process for regulating utility companies.

SB 31, if you recall, would allow Georgia Power to charge customers in advance for two new proposed nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle. Critics opposed the bill because it placed the burden of a costly and unpredictable technology on the shoulders of ratepayers and not the company’s shareholders, among other reasons. The bill passed both the Senate and House.

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Do you or one of your neighbors have an extra closet — maybe some storage space or a shed out back — where a mom-and-pop nuclear facility can dispose of their low-level radioactive waste? Plant Vogtle might need to borrow it.

The Southern Alliance for Clean Energy and other environmental groups recently raised a red flag about two new reactors proposed for the nuclear plant near Augusta that’s owned and operated by several Peach State utilities, including Georgia Power.

At issue is whether the nuclear facility, already home to two power-generating white elephants, has sufficient plans to safely dispose of low-level radioactive waste produced by the new reactors.

And late last week, the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, a three-judge federal panel that’s part of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and one of the many steps in the complicated process of approving nuke plants, said the environmental groups’ concerns merit a closer look. Should Southern Nuclear, the Southern Co. subsidiary that operates Plant Vogtle, not produce a better long-term plan, the federal agency might not issue the company a permit to build the new reactors.

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After hours of debate, the Georgia House of Representatives passed a controversial bill that would allow Georgia Power to charge customers in advance for financing costs on two proposed nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle.

The bill now moves back to the state Senate where it originated and passed by a wide margin. That chamber will then send it to Gov. Sonny Perdue’s desk for signature. The governor has not said whether he supports or opposes the measure. It merits a mention, however, that Perdue’s chief of staff is a former Georgia Power executive.

Full list of how lawmakers voted will be posted when it’s available.

(Photo courtesy of Plant Vogtle)

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Senate Bill 31, a belated Christmas gift to Georgia Power, is scheduled to come up for a vote Wednesday in the state House. Normally, I’d assume that a bill this controversial and with such powerful backing wouldn’t hit the House floor unless its supporters had counted the votes and were certain of its passage.

But I’m not so sure in this case.

As you recall, SB 31 would allow Georgia Power to start billing ratepayers on the front end for the cost of building two new nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle. Under current law, the utility secures its own financing for capital projects, then recoups its investment after a new facility goes online. The bill is controversial both because it would circumvent the normal regulatory authority of the elected Public Service Commission and because many folks believe it’s not a good deal for consumers.

One House Republican told me that he and many of his fellows were plenty steamed after learning that most of the $1.6 billion Georgia Power expects to collect in financing fees would be used to line the pockets of the utility’s shareholders – yet more ammunition for critics who contend that the arrangement is designed to shield the private company from financial risk at the expense of the public.

An opposing lobbyist speculates that Georgia Power is trying to rush through a floor vote because the bill is losing votes with each passing day. If that’s the case and this is a desperation move, then stayed tuned – anything can happen.

(Photo Christina Wedge)

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Surprise, surprise.

Most of the $1.6 billion in early financing fees that Georgia Power wants to charge customers for additional nuclear reactors would go to the company’s shareholders, and not to finance debt.

…

State Rep. Don Wix, D-Mableton, tried and failed to amend that bill to exclude the $1 billion he estimated would flow to shareholders, if SB 31 is passed.

Georgia Power comptroller Ann Daiss later called Wix’s calculations “reasonable.”

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Opponents of a controversial piece of legislation have a powerful voice on their side.

Erick Erickson, editor of Peach Pundit, sent a message to readers today asking them to tell their lawmakers to vote “no” on Senate Bill 31. That bill, which sailed through the state Senate last week, would allow Georgia Power to charge customers in advance for two new proposed nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle. He explains the decision here.

That position is sure to catch the attention of many state lawmakers — particularly House members who are now mulling over the legislation.

You can rest assured they won’t miss the post. Seated in the House’s press box, a journalist gets a clear view of lawmakers’ laptops. Throughout the day, you’re bound to see Peach Pundit on several screens.

Erickson’s letter is posted after the jump.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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WHITE ELEPHANTS Senate Bill 31 would provide safety net for Georgia Power

In 1974, Georgia Power broke ground on nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle near Augusta, embarking on a nuclear odyssey that would nearly bankrupt the company.

Almost 15 years later — and after several delays and environmental hurdles— the project’s construction costs ballooned from $680 million to a staggering $8.4 billion. And it wasn’t until then that Georgia Power could begin to recoup the cost from ratepayers.

Now, as the state’s largest utility moves forward on two new reactors at Plant Vogtle estimated at $6.4 billion, the first in nearly 30 years, the company wants to cover its assets — and it’s enlisted the assistance of a phalanx of lobbyists and a controversial legislative plan of attack.

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The state Senate today passed a bill 38-16 that would allow Georgia Power to begin collecting fees from customers to help pay for two proposed nuclear reactors prior to their construction. (The Senate Press Office included in its release about the bill’s passage this hilarious photo to the right of the bill’s sponsor, state Sen. Don Balfour, R-Gavelville.)

The bill now moves to the House, where Jim Galloway of the AJC says lawmakers are generally warm to the idea.

Supporters of the bill say it’ll save the utility — and in turn, customers — money in the long run.

But many lawmakers and consumer groups oppose the move because they say it sidesteps the Public Service Commission  — and partially exempts big business and industrial customers from the increased rates.

For an excellent rundown of the controversial legislation, view my esteemed colleague Scott Henry’s post.

After the jump, Dave Williams of the Atlanta Business Chronicle reports some lawmakers’ thoughts about the bill.

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Senate Bill 31 — to allow Georgia Power to charge Georgians upfront for the construction cost of two planned nuclear reactors — was expected to come up for a floor vote today. But it didn’t even make it onto the debate schedule. Why was this?

Plant Vogtle

Word is, because the votes aren’t there — which would mean Sen. Don. Balfour, R-Snellville, the powerful Senate Rules chairman, hasn’t yet managed to persuade several of his fellow Republicans to support his mucho controversial bill.

Some of the hold-outs, I was told, include Pres. Pro Tem Tommie Williams, R-Lyons, and Sen. Dan Weber, R-Dunwoody, a usually conscientious pol who isn’t afraid to break party ranks. So I asked Weber.

“I’ll probably support the bill,” he told me. “My concern is that Georgia is facing a substantial shortfall in [electrical] generating capacity.”

Fair enough, but Georgia Power has said it would build the two nukes even if the bill doesn’t pass.

(more…)

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Georgia voters have never gotten terribly excited over our Public Service Commission elections, partly because the issues involved — franchise agreements, amortization schedules, telecommunication service areas — are often so complex that few people understand them. But that’s why we elect these folks, to six-year terms, no less: to make difficult decisions about very complicated matters involving huge utilities.

Plant Vogtle near Augusta

That’s why no one I’ve talked to can figure out why the Senate is handling legislation to enact a fundamental change in the way Georgia Power bills its customers — meaning all of us. Sponsored by Rules Committee chairman Don Balfour, R-Duluth, SB 31 motored through committee Wednesday, even though some of his fellow Republicans indicated they didn’t completely grasp what it would do.

So, what would it do? Put simply, it would require Georgia Power customers — again, you and me — to begin paying for two new nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle as they’re being built. This is a huge departure from how the billing process has worked in past decades. For all previous projects:

1. The utility gets approval for a capitol project from the PSC
2. The utility builds the capitol project on its own dime
3. The utility raises our rates to recoup its investment

This process has worked fairly well so far. Now, however, Georgia Power is pushing to get its money up front. I suppose you can’t blame ‘em; Vogtle’s two original reactors nearly bankrupted the company. Construction began in 1974, but endless delays caused by numerous redesigns and shifting federal regulations meant the plant didn’t go into operation until 1989. Costs ballooned from a projected $680 million to a staggering $8.4 billion — money the company couldn’t begin to recoup for a solid 15 years until the project was completed. (more…)

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The Georgia Public Service Commission, the quasi-judicial state agency that determines how much you pay to turn on your lights and heat up your oven, will hold hearings next week to discuss two proposed nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle, an power-generation plant near Augusta owned mostly by Georgia Power and Dalton Utilities.

From the PSC:

The Georgia Public Service Commission will continue its hearings on the Georgia Power Co. request seeking commission certification of two new nuclear power generation units at Plant Vogtle at 10 a.m. on Monday, January 12, 2009. The meeting will take place in Room 110 at 244 Washington Street, S.W., Atlanta, Georgia.

The hearings will continue at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, January 13, 2009 through Friday, January 16, 2009 if necessary, with the Commission Public Interest Advisory Staff and other intervenors presenting testimony and evidence in support of their positions. The January 15, 2009 hearing will begin at 1:30 p.m. The Public Interest Advisory Staff in their pre-filed testimony of December 19, 2008, recommended approval of the certificate based on Georgia Power’s acceptance of certain financial conditions recommended by other Staff witnesses.

On Feb. 9, Georgia Power will have four days to argue its case in front of the five-member commission. Briefs and proposed orders are due to PSC on March 6. On March 17, the commission is scheduled to issue its decision.

An audio webcast of the hearings can be heard on the commission’s site under “Audio Broadcast Link.” More information about Georgia Power’s request is available on the PSC’s site under Docket Number 27800.

(Photo courtesy of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission)

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Reporters get suspicious when we’re denied access to meetings where extremely powerful and wealthy people get together with elected officials to discuss issues of great public importance.

That’s what will happen this Monday morning when the Atlanta Committee for Progress (PDF) and Mayor Shirley Franklin go behind closed doors to talk about … well, who knows what. The APC is composed of the city’s pre-eminent CEOs – we’re talking the top dogs here, no VPs or community-relations folks allowed.

The group’s chairman is Neville Isdell of Coke – see what we mean? – and other members include Richard Anderson of Delta, Mike Garrett of Georgia Power, developer Herman Russell, Tom Bell of Cousins, James Kennedy of Cox, Phil Kent of Turner, and the list goes on and on.

The APC was created in 2003 as the lynchpin of Franklin’s efforts to win the business community’s support for City Hall initiatives after eight disastrous years in which Bill Campbell had bitten the hands of and otherwise alienated the city’s corporate honchos.

We’re not criticizing the formation of such a group – it’s a great achievement from both a civic and a political viewpoint. But we would like to know what these ridiculously influential people talk about with our mayor.

Are they advising her on what the Beltline should look like? Are they cutting secret land deals? Are they asking her to fix their kids’ parking tickets? There’s no way to know.

John Ahmann, a consultant to the mayor who acts as executive director of the group, says Monday’s agenda has Franklin briefing the Star Chamber about the Beltline, the city budget, this fall’s statewide TAD referendum and the city’s upcoming legislative wish list.

Sounds harmless enough. But remember: These are the guys who talked the mayor into launching Brand Atlanta.

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ELECTRIC BUGABOO: Fuel costs, new plant construction and repairing an aging power grid are driving electricity prices up as much as 29 percent in some parts of the country; Georgia Power’s rate hike takes place this month.

CLAYTON: Corrective superintendent John Thompson brings in a second member of his inner circle to help lead Clayton schools out of SACS ire.

BEACH EXCEEDING GRASP: Jekyll Island beach erosion is becoming a problem.

MEX APPEAL: Mexican musical acts are enjoying growing success in Atlanta, as are Clear Channel radio stations VIVA-FM (105.7) and El Patron WBZY-FM (105.3).

SMOLTZ: Despite having just undergone surgery that has ended many pitchers’ careers, and despite being 41, he says he’ll try to pitch again.

MASCOT CASE: Future Olympic cities such as London try to do as Atlanta didn’t when picking a mascot. Says the blue pariah’s creator, graphic designer John Ryan:

I hope that I can prove that I have something else that I will be known for before I die.

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The Rome News-Tribune is reporting that 30 years after Georgia Power’s Plant Bowen started belching out pollutants, one of the nation’s biggest carbon dioxide emitters has installed its first of four scrubbers at the facility.

The device — known as a flue gas desulphurization system — is estimated to remove 95 percent of sulfur dioxide from emissions. Its lone waste product — gypsum — will be sold to an Alabama rock wall company.

The article says that Georgia Power plans on installing 21 scrubbers on six of its coal-fired power plants. Each one will take three years to construct.

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MYANMAR: More than 100,000 people may be dead, and the junta still won’t let in foreign aid.

THERE’S A BAN KI-MOON RISING: U.N. secretary-general visits Atlanta today.

EXIT STRATEGY: TIME magazine on why it’s hard to imagine Clinton bowing out of this race after more than 20 years of Clintonian dominance.

WILDFIRES: Could spread like themselves again this summer in South Georgia. Sprouting trees are sucking up what little water there is, and even sparks from passing trains have already started small fires.

BRAND SPANKING NEWS: Atlanta-based Spanx sues British company S.P.A.N.K., alleging trademark infringement that could lead to consumer confusion.

CASEY AT THE BAT: Cagle now says he’d allow a Senate vote on Sunday alcohol sales.

CLAYTON BOE: Denies “knowingly and willingly” breaking the law.

RADIOHEAD: Thunderstorms are expected tonight, and you can’t bring umbrellas into Lakewood.

POWERS THAT WILL BE: If new nuclear reactors are added to Vogtle, Georgia Power expects rates to go up $12 a month in 2018.

DIGGING UP DIRT ON MAYOR: Archaeologists are excavating Brunswick mayor’s back yard after ancient pottery shards were discovered, some more than 1,000 years old.

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Woe is Georgia Power.

The energy heavy and subsidiary of Atlanta-based Southern Co. is advocating before the Public Services Commission today and tomorrow that it needs to raise its rates 3 percent because of the skyrocketing cost of natural gas and coal, the state’s predominant fuel burned to generate electricity. Customers would most likely see their bills go up $3 if the hike is approved.

Georgia Power says the rate hike will generate $222 million. Long the cheapest bang-for-the-buck source, coal’s prices have risen sharply, from nearly $40 a ton early last year to $90 a ton in today’s market, thanks to increasing demand from India and China. Two new coal power plants have been proposed for the state of Georgia. The mining and use of coal is also probably one of the stiffest middle fingers you can give to Mother Nature, but that’s another story.

In other news, the sun continues to shine and wind continues to blow.

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Tons of CO2 emitted in 2007 by Plant Scherer, a coal power plant outside Macon: 27,200,000

Since 2002, number of states with lower increase in CO2 emissions than Georgia: 48

Pounds of CO2 emission stopped annually by replacing three incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs: 300

Pounds of CO2 emission stopped annually by inflating your car tires correctly: 250

Pounds of CO2 emission stopped annually by setting your thermostat two degree cooler in winter and warmer in summer: 2,000

Pounds of CO2 emissions stopped annually by switching from average American diet to a vegetarian diet: 3,000

Minimum number people, businesses and municipalities turning off all lights for one hour on March 29 for Earth Hour: 160,000

U.S. home fires caused by candles between 2000 and 2004: 16,400

Sources: Environmental Integrity Project, National Fire Protection Association, www.earthhour.org, International Herald Tribune, www.stopglobalwarming.org

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Business magazine Portfolio has blessed Atlanta-based Southern Co. with a coveted spot on its list of top 10 corporate polluters. The parent company of Georgia Power is described by the glossy as such:

Southern provides power to more than 4 million customers, but its plants emit a mass of noxious gases across the southern United States. Analyzing E.P.A. data, the Environmental Integrity Project reports that Southern runs six of the 50 dirtiest power plants in the country in terms of sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide, and mercury released. Its Bowen plant in Georgia, run by subsidiary Georgia Power, is the biggest American sulfur-dioxide polluter. Southern owns the top three carbon-dioxide-emitting plants in the U.S., two of which rank second and third in mercury output as well. And five of its other plants are among the country’s top 50 nitrogen-oxide producers.

What the company says: Southern continues to invest billions of dollars to lower its chemical and greenhouse-gas emissions while also seeking out new ways to produce cleaner energy.

Way to go, Southern Co.! All publicity’s good publicity!

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