Latest news with #GeorgiaPowerCo.
Yahoo
07-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Traffic rerouting planned for downtown Watkinsville to move utility pole in sidewalk
There's a tall problem with a sidewalk in downtown Watkinsville – a utility pole sits smack dab in the middle. It was placed there more than 40 years ago for some reason, but now the city has decided to remove the pole to make walking the route more safe for pedestrians. The city noted in a news release that those who are handicapped or parents with strollers have difficulties negotiating the pole. But the work means that downtown traffic will be affected as a section of Main Street from School Street to Harden Hill Road will be closed at various times on Tuesday, April 8, and the following Friday. Oconee Blotter: Need for a bathroom stop leads to arrest of Ram driver The city reported that Georgia Power Co. and other utilities have agreed to do the work during a week that the Oconee County School District is observing spring break. This might help mitigate the traffic congestion, which is heavy in the downtown during the morning and evening rush hours. On Tuesday, the street will be closed from about 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. The work includes the installation of two new utility poles, with the old pole being removed on Friday for an estimated three- to four-hour period. During these days, Watkinsville police will manage traffic. This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Expect traffic delays when traffic rerouted in Watkinsville on April 8
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
8 Georgia candidates are seeking 2 seats on a commission that regulates utilities
Georgia voters will choose from eight candidates as they fill two seats on the Georgia Public Service Commission, the body elected statewide that regulates how much Georgia Power Co. can charge customers for electricity. Qualifying for candidates closed Thursday. Georgia usually doesn't have statewide elections in odd-numbered years, but these were pushed back to Nov. 4 from 2022 after elections were delayed by a lawsuit that unsuccessfully challenged the statewide voting scheme as discriminatory to Black people. No Georgia Public Service Commission elections have been held since 2022 because of the lawsuit. Voters statewide elect commission members, but they must live in one of five districts. Up for election this year is District 2, which stretches from Atlanta's eastern suburbs through Athens, Augusta and Savannah, and District 3, which includes the core metro Atlanta counties of Fulton, DeKalb and Clayton. All five commissioners are currently Republicans. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] District 2 incumbent Tim Echols will be challenged in a June 17 primary by fellow Republican Lee Muns, who ran unsuccessfully for Columbia County Commission in 2018. Democrat Alicia Johnson of Augusta faces no opposition in the primary and will challenge the Republican nominee in November. In District 3, incumbent Fitz Johnson is unchallenged on the Republican side, while four Democrats seek their party's nomination. Democrats include Daniel Blackman, who lost a 2020 race for the commission and was later appointed as southern region administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency by President Joe Biden. Also running is Keisha Sean Waites, a former state House member and former Atlanta City Council member who most recently lost a bid to become Fulton County Clerk of Superior and Magistrate Courts. Candidate Peter Hubbard has worked for the Georgia Center for Clean Energy Solutions. The fourth Democrat, Robert Jones, says he has worked on energy for both the government and private companies. TRENDING STORIES: RFK Jr. announces HHS reinstating some programs, employees cut by mistake Closed country club in Gwinnett could soon be 100+ homes. Those living there hope it won't be China imposes a 34% tariff on imports of all U.S. products starting April 10 If no Democrat wins a majority in the June 17 primary, a runoff will be held July 15. Incumbents Echols and Johnson were supposed to run in 2022, but after the lawsuit ended, state lawmakers decided they would stand for election this year. That same law rearranged the terms of all five commission members, giving them each more than a regular six-year term. Johnson was appointed to the commission in 2021 by Gov. Brian Kemp and has never faced voters. He was supposed to run for the last two years of his predecessor's term in 2022, before running again in 2024. The winner of the District 3 race will run again for a six-year term in 2026. Echols would serve for five years until 2030 if he wins this year, facing voters only twice in 14 years, before resuming regular six-year terms. The other three commissions will each get an extra two years on their current term. Tricia Pridemore, who was supposed to face voters in 2024, will instead run in 2026. Commissioners Jason Shaw and Bubba McDonald, scheduled for reelection in 2026, would instead serve until 2028. Their positions would then revert to six-year terms. May 19 is the last day to register to vote for the June 17 primary. Early in-person voting will begin May 27. [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
Associated Press
03-04-2025
- Politics
- Associated Press
8 Georgia candidates are seeking 2 seats on a commission that regulates utilities
ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia voters will choose from eight candidates as they fill two seats on the Georgia Public Service Commission, the body elected statewide that regulates how much Georgia Power Co. can charge customers for electricity. Qualifying for candidates closed Thursday. Georgia usually doesn't have statewide elections in odd-numbered years, but these were pushed back to Nov. 4 from 2022 after elections were delayed by a lawsuit that unsuccessfully challenged the statewide voting scheme as discriminatory to Black people. No Georgia Public Service Commission elections have been held since 2022 because of the lawsuit. Voters statewide elect commission members, but they must live in one of five districts. Up for election this year is District 2, which stretches from Atlanta's eastern suburbs through Athens, Augusta and Savannah, and District 3, which includes the core metro Atlanta counties of Fulton, DeKalb and Clayton. All five commissioners are currently Republicans. District 2 incumbent Tim Echols will be challenged in a June 17 primary by fellow Republican Lee Muns, who ran unsuccessfully for Columbia County Commission in 2018. Democrat Alicia Johnson of Augusta faces no opposition in the primary and will challenge the Republican nominee in November. In District 3, incumbent Fitz Johnson is unchallenged on the Republican side, while four Democrats seek their party's nomination. Democrats include Daniel Blackman, who lost a 2020 race for the commission and was later appointed as southern region administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency by President Joe Biden. Also running is Keisha Sean Waites, a former state House member and former Atlanta City Council member who most recently lost a bid to become Fulton County Clerk of Superior and Magistrate Courts. Candidate Peter Hubbard has worked for the Georgia Center for Clean Energy Solutions. The fourth Democrat, Robert Jones, says he has worked on energy for both the government and private companies. If no Democrat wins a majority in the June 17 primary, a runoff will be held July 15. Incumbents Echols and Johnson were supposed to run in 2022, but after the lawsuit ended, state lawmakers decided they would stand for election this year. That same law rearranged the terms of all five commission members, giving them each more than a regular six-year term. Johnson was appointed to the commission in 2021 by Gov. Brian Kemp and has never faced voters. He was supposed to run for the last two years of his predecessor's term in 2022, before running again in 2024. The winner of the District 3 race will run again for a six-year term in 2026. Echols would serve for five years until 2030 if he wins this year, facing voters only twice in 14 years, before resuming regular six-year terms. The other three commissions will each get an extra two years on their current term. Tricia Pridemore, who was supposed to face voters in 2024, will instead run in 2026. Commissioners Jason Shaw and Bubba McDonald, scheduled for reelection in 2026, would instead serve until 2028. Their positions would then revert to six-year terms. May 19 is the last day to register to vote for the June 17 primary. Early in-person voting will begin May 27.
Associated Press
31-01-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
Georgia Power wants to keep coal plants alive to meet electricity demand
ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia Power Co. says it wants to keep burning coal to meet what it forecasts as the state's increasing electrical demand. Georgia's only private electrical utility says electrical demand is forecast to grow rapidly in the state, with much of the jump coming from power-hungry data centers. It's just one example of how increasing electrical demand is pressuring electrical infrastructure in the United States and endangering the country's ability to cut emissions of climate-changing carbon dioxide. The unit of Atlanta-based Southern Co. on Friday filed a required plan with regulators on how it would generate and transmit power in the future. Georgia's Public Service Commission, composed of five elected Republicans, will hold hearings and vote on the plan. Then Georgia Power will propose a rate plan for how it will pay for the investments over the next three years, with commissioners likely to vote on rates in December. The company didn't say Friday how much its proposals would cost or how they would filter down to bills. The likely bill impacts could matter a lot, because two commissioners — Tim Echols and Fitz Johnson — are up for reelection in November. Their unusual odd-year election dates resulted from a failed legal challenge to Georgia's system of electing commissioners statewide. A typical Georgia Power residential customer is currently paying an average of $163.57 a month before taxes. Bill increases, driven by factors including a jump in the cost of natural gas and the cost of two new nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle near Augusta, have outstripped inflation. In 2019, customers paid $123.31 a month. Georgia Power increased its demand forecast by 2,000 megawatts a year going forward in the integrated resource plan it filed Friday. That's nearly as much electricity as both of the new nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle near Augusta are supposed to generate in a year. Overall it says it needs to generate 8,000 additional megawatts per year in the near future. 'The 2025 IRP provides a comprehensive plan to support Georgia's continued economic growth and serve Georgians with clean, safe, reliable and affordable energy well into the future,' Georgia Power CEO Kim Greene said in a statement. But the reliance on coal, and the carbon dioxide that coal-fueled generation produces, alarmed others. They said Georgia Power is choosing a costly option. 'We're the number one state to do business and one of the U.S.'s fastest growing tech hubs. Are we really going to power progress with gas and coal?' Jennifer Whitfield, an attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center, said in a statement. 'Coal hasn't been economic for years, and paying for even more methane gas is incompatible with the future Georgians want and businesses are demanding.' Instead of closing a coal-fueled unit at Plant Scherer north of Macon in 2028, Georgia Power now wants to keep it running until 2035 or 2038. No closing date had been determined for the massive coal-fueled Plant Bowen, northwest of Atlanta in Euharlee. Georgia Power wants to keep it running until 2035 or 2038 as well. The company also wants to keep Alabama's Plant Gaston, which it co-owns with sister company Alabama Power, running through 2034 instead of closing it in 2028. Gaston runs mostly on natural gas but with some coal. Georgia Power proposed burning natural gas alongside coal at Plant Scherer and Plant Bowen, which would reduce carbon emissions somewhat. It's also proposing changes that would increase output at its Vogtle and Hatch nuclear power plants without building new reactors and increase capacity at its Plant McIntosh natural gas plant near Savannah. The company also said it would ask outsider developers to bid on constructing solar panels and battery storage systems that can generate 1,100 megawatts of power. But that's far less that it would generate by continuing to run coal plants. Georgia Power also wants to create a program where small customers could install solar and battery storage at their homes and get bill credits for letting the utility draw on their electricity when it's needed.
