Georgia’s Public Service Commission faces a divide over one of its most contentious issues in years, and rival tea party factions courted by both sides have injected an extra dose of politics into the typically wonkish debate.
The split is over an unlikely issue: A vote set for Thursday on requiring Georgia Power, the state’s dominant utility, to amp up the amount of solar energy produced in its long-term plans. While the vote remains up in the air, both sides agree it sends a signal that the utility may have to more aggressively pursue alternative energy.
The debate comes at a crucial moment for Georgia Power, one of the most powerful forces in the statehouse, and the outcome will surely affect energy bills that could already rise 6 percent next year. It centers on a proposal by Commissioner Lauren “Bubba” McDonald to require the utility to roughly double the amount of solar energy generated in its 20-year plan.
He has the backing of several tea party groups who made a name for themselves fighting the health care overhaul and the transportation sales tax but now are increasingly latching on to social and consumer issues. The Atlanta Tea Party Patriots, an influential grass-roots group, sees McDonald’s plan as a crucial way to diversify Georgia’s energy portfolio.
“We need to look into as many types of energy sources as humanly possible,” said Julianne Thompson, a co-founder of the group. “Not only to save money for consumers but also so we’re not reliant on one or two energy sources for electricity.”
But other tea party groups fear that raising the requirements could lead to higher energy costs for ratepayers with little access to another competitor. Virginia Galloway of Americans for Prosperity’s Georgia chapter urged her group, which she put at 50,000 members, to rally against the proposal or risk skyrocketing energy bills and hampering the state’s economy.
“We’re already deploying some solar power a little bit at a time, so what’s the mad rush to expand this quickly?” she said. “Governor Deal has recruited a lot of companies to Georgia, and from our point of view, why mess that up? Because if companies are going to move here, you better believe they are looking at power bills.”
via Tea party split over solar power heats up key utility vote | www.myajc.com.
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