Voters have a chance to change control over the five-person board that approves utility rate hikes here in Georgia. There are two Public Service Commission seats up for grabs in the midterm elections.
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“Do you have electric lights in your home? Uh, because if you do, you know, those rates are regulated by the public service commission,” said UGA professor Dr. Charles Bullock. That is why everyone should pay attention to the two Public Service Commission races on the ballot.
One race will be a rematch of last year’s election between Democrat Incumbent Peter Hubbard and Republican Fitz Johnson.
“I mentioned clean tech, that’s how we bend the cost curve down in the long term. But there are actions we can take in the medium and short term. Things like bringing the utilities in to justify their rates,” said Hubbard.
“We had to make hard decisions through a war, through a lot of terrible weather, through putting on Vogel 3, Vogel 4, but I will also tell you we were also looking futuristic. We were able to then freeze the rates for a three-year period,” said Johnson who previously served on the Public Service Commission.
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For decades the five-person PSC has been all republicans, until democrats flipped two seats in 2025. But voters will decide on a second PSC race this November that could determine which party controls the board. And data centers and rates are a top issue.
“The ability to read the fine print, check the math, ask the hard questions and push back when a utility proposal doesn’t make sense: that’s how we protect the rate payers and keep powers bills as low as possible,” said Republican Josh Tolbert.
“We need guardrails in place to make sure that data centers are paying their own way and that they’re being held accountable,” said Democrat Shelia Edwards who running against Tolbert.
The candidates will have an opportunity to debate next Monday with the Atlanta Press Club.
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