PSC District 3: Peter Hubbard, Fitz Johnson

Peter Hubbard (D)

Hubbard believes that the Public Service Commission’s decisions have historically been tilted toward utilities over ratepayers and wants to rebalance that relationship. He called for implementing “performance-based rate making,” which would, for example, reward Georgia Power for improvements to the grid or provide penalties for grid deterioration, instead of guaranteeing profits.

“A quick example would be to look at those reliability statistics of the last five years and set a baseline, and then give them a carrot if they can improve that over time, and a stick if they get worse, and that’s one way to redirect those incentives,” Hubbard said.

He also proposed ending automatic approvals for gas utilities rates and wants them to formally justify their rates in traditional rate case hearings.

“The gas utilities have not had to come in and justify their costs in a traditional rate case in years. They just drew up the numbers year after year,” Hubbard said.

Hubbard also supports strengthening the PSC consumer affairs department that helps with resolving complaints and can investigate violations, as well as educating consumers about their rights.

Fitz Johnson (R)

Johnson said that there is “no one and done answer” to how to regulate utilities and provide oversight, and that having a financially stable utility company is important for reliability, service and growth, but that it’s important to balance ratepayer protections with industry standards.

“As with most things in life, there is wisdom in moderation … we need to continually be monitoring that return for ratepayers, shareholders and the greater Georgia good,” Johnson said.

Peter Hubbard (D)

In the short term, Hubbard proposed tapping into the $25 million Universal Service Fund that is funded by natural gas companies to help lower income households with their monthly gas bills instead of funding further fossil fuel expansion.

“We can use it to expand natural gas infrastructure and lock more people into dirty pollution and fossil fuels in their homes, or we can use it to help pay down folks’ gas bills, low- to moderate-income customers. That’s an immediate thing that we can do,” Hubbard said.

In the long term, he proposed expanding access to residential and community solar energy to reduce monthly electric bills. He also proposed creating a bill calculator tool to help residents identify and switch to one of Georgia Power’s seven residential plans that might be cheaper.

“We need to be investing more in things like resiliency hubs. A church that would have solar panels on its roof and a battery in the basement, where the community can come to in a time of need to recharge their batteries or keep their medicine cold or whatever it may be,” Hubbard said.

Fitz Johnson (R)

Johnson pointed to the rule the PSC approved last year aimed at protecting residential ratepayers from paying for the infrastructure data centers require, which he said “is now helping drive energy bills down.” He said that there is more the commission can do, but also that costs, not just those related to energy, are going up across the board.

“My record of delivering affordability is proven,” Johnson said.

Johnson said that one of the key differences between him and Hubbard is their approach to the state’s energy mix, in which he said that he’d consider deploying all sources of energy to meet the state’s needs.

“I am an all-of-the-above believer, and he would drive Georgia to fulfill green energy mandates regardless of their impacts to Georgians’ monthly bills,” Johnson said.

Peter Hubbard (D)

Hubbard believes that Georgia Power is overreliant on fossil fuels and proposed a fast transition towards renewables, such as solar and battery storage, saying that Georgia is behind on transitioning from fossil fuel sources to clean energy. He said that the state should focus on deploying renewable energy as much as possible.

“There are real benefits to clean energy, and we’re oversubscribed on the fossil fuel side. The United States is building clean energy. 90% of the power plants are solar, wind and batteries, and somehow in Georgia we’re building mostly fossil fuel,” Hubbard said.

Hubbard also supports net metering, which is an electricity billing system that credits solar panel owners for the excess electricity they send back to the energy grid, saying that families could see their bills drop dramatically, especially in summer months when the sun shines the longest.

Fitz Johnson (R)

Johnson said he’s “a big fan of further nuclear investment,” as well as allowing data centers to generate their own energy needs on site. He said that the state should “absolutely prioritize clean energy whenever possible, so long as it doesn’t jeopardize affordability or reliability.”

“Our state’s energy mix really is a defining issue of this race. We cannot meet our current demand, let alone future demand, unless we take an all-of-the-above approach,” Johnson said.

Peter Hubbard (D)

Hubbard said that data centers now need an unprecedented amount of energy because of the rise of artificial intelligence, pointing to the recent PSC decision to expand the energy infrastructure by up to 10 gigawatts, and he is concerned that they aren’t paying for the full cost of that infrastructure.

“We’re talking about the next five years doubling what Georgia Power has already built to meet peak load. That has real implications for us because we not only have to pay for these power plants and there’s open questions to whether or not the data centers are truly covering their costs, but also we have to live with these power plants,” Hubbard said.

He wants to ensure that data centers fully cover the cost of building that infrastructure instead of possibly passing that down to residential ratepayers in the long-term.

“I think about data centers as who’s really going to be paying those costs, and I’m trying to look holistically at all of the different costs and if there are benefits, who gets those benefits,” Hubbard said.

Fitz Johnson (R)

Johnson said that when he served as a commissioner, he helped put in place the framework that exists today to protect ratepayers from paying for the costs incurred by data centers.

“We are now seeing these agreements play out in the real world, and they are driving down rates for residential and small business ratepayers. The framework is working, and it’s the job of the PSC to enforce it,” Johnson said.