The first week of hearings for the 2025 Integrated Resource Plan started with a bang at the Georgia Public Service Commission.
Every three years, Georgia Power must update a big plan for how much electricity Georgia will need for the next twenty years and a plan for how to generate it. That document is known as the Integrated Resource Plan, and there’s a process for how the details get worked out. First, Georgia Power submits the plan to the Public Service Commission. These five Commissioners have the power to heavily regulate utility companies, railroads, and broadband in the state. These elected officials then host three weeks of hearings over several months before deciding what parts of the company’s plan are kosher and what must be changed. The first week of hearings took place at the end of March. In this hearing, Georgia Power presented its plan and took questions from the Commission. The company also took questions from lawyers representing groups like Georgia Conservation Voters Education Fund (GCVEF) and Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) that want the IRP to include safer, more affordable energy and lower customer costs.
People’s Power Union Organizer Xiomara Arriaga speaks to students outside the Public Service Commission during the IRP Hearings.
We learned a lot during the first week of hearings. Students across Atlanta spoke out in favor of a quicker transition to renewable energy. Commissioners became upset at being asked to do their jobs and lower utility bills for working Georgians, and Jennifer Whitfield, SELC Senior Attorney, discovered a hole in the company’s plans so large you could sail the Titanic through it.
Let’s get into it.
What We Learned in the First Round of Hearings
One – Georgians want to fight back against the financial abuse of corporations.
Rev. Keyanna Jones Moore speaks outside the first hearing on the dangers of corporate greed.
People are fed up. The People’s Power Union, GCVEF’s newly formed consumer union for Georgia Power customers, now has over 160 members and is growing. Members and organizers were present at the Public Service Commission all week and made themselves heard. Take a listen to union member Rev. Keyanna Jones Moore tell the whole truth at the first day of hearings.
Students also made themselves heard. Emory Sunrise Movement as well as students from Clark Atlanta University, Georgia State, and Georgia Tech made the trip over to the Public Service Commission. They gave moving testimony about the impacts of relying on coal and rising costs.
Media covered the hearings more thoroughly than in years past because the demand for information is so high. In February, Atlanta News First ran a story with Georgia Utility Watch’s Patty Durand titled ‘Very disturbed’: Georgia Power customers see higher bills as parent company reports $400M profit increase.” By the end of the weekend, it had been shared 1000 times with even more likes and comments. People feel the rising cost of living and want answers.
Two – Georgia Power loves it some methane gas.
Georgia Power wants to use methane gas to make most of our electricity. We already use methane to generate 41% of our electricity, and the new IRP calls for a lot more. Company officials don’t mention that fuel costs like methane are passed directly onto the customers.
In fact, the pro-business, conservative organization American Legislative Exchange Council recently released their Energy Affordability report and noted that Georgia Power’s reliance on methane gas as a fuel source drives up price volatility and contributes to them being ranked 35th out of 50 on bills.
From the report, “Georgia ranks near the bottom in terms of energy affordability in large part due to an over-reliance on one fuel for electrical generation. With almost half of the state’s electricity generated using natural gas, ratepayers are on the hook for higher bills when the cost of natural gas rises.”
Yikes.
Three – There’s a big, beautiful RFP that the company doesn’t want us to see.
Georgia Power and the Public Service Commission say that we’re going to need a lot more power soon. Like, a LOT more power. This year’s IRP calls for almost twice as much electricity as the company projected even one year ago. According to the company, that’s because of data centers.
Data centers are warehouses of computers that process data. It’s the stuff you need for artificial intelligence models, to ask Siri questions, or to transfer money online. Those are all things humans do a lot of nowadays, so you can imagine that they require a lot of electricity. Way more than we can handle right now.
So, Georgia Power put out a “request for proposals,” or RFP, to sell electricity to the company. The company says, “We want this much electricity, and any type of power plant or fuel source can make an offer.” Okay, that’s pretty normal. What’s the big deal?
The RFP itself is the big deal. As in, it’s huge. Enough electricity to power millions of households huge, and we don’t know anything about what’s in it. At the first week of hearings, the company promised to provide a little more information about it, but the truth is that 25% of the entire plan that Georgia Power submitted is contained in a proposal that they won’t share with us.
So much for transparency.
Canary Media quotes Southern Environmental Law Center’s Jennifer Whitfield describing the situation.
“It’s very confusing, and it’s very concerning for us to be planning a future of growth without knowing how we’re going to meet it,” said Jennifer Whitfield, senior attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center, one of several groups demanding more information on Georgia Power’s plans. “And that’s the position we’re in until we know more.”
Join the People’s Power Union and Fight Back against these Bills
The next round of hearings is the week of May 27-30, and we need you on our side. Take the pledge and join the People’s Power Union today and share your voice at the next hearings. Whether you write an email, a letter, make a phone call, or join us in person and in solidarity, we’ll be happy to have you.
At the next hearing, we’ll unveil our People’s Power Plan, an alternative to the Integrated Resource Plan that prioritizes what working, everyday people want from their energy grid: affordable, safe energy.
