There are Georgia Public Service Commissioners, and all five of them are Republican — Chuck Eaton, Tim Echols, Stan Wise, Doug Everett and Lauren “Bubba” McDonald, Jr.
As we discussed a few weeks ago, these commissioners approved $2 billion in cost overruns for Georgia Power to expand Plant Vogtle, a nuclear power plant, and agreed to let Georgia Power pass along those expenses to consumers. Georgia Power is nearly four years behind schedule and they’re billing us — the consumers — for their ineffectiveness.
It’s clear that the Georgia Public Service Commissioners — who are elected to protect consumers from corporate abuses — are willing to let big energy companies like Georgia Power get away with murder.
Georgia already boasts the biggest carbon-polluting power plant in the nation, Plant Scherer. The plant is, in part, owned by Georgia Power. Now, consumers will be footing the massive bill for Georgia Power to continue down an environmentally unsustainable path — thanks to the PSC.
Essentially, consumers are paying to have their atmosphere polluted with carbon, the highest emitted greenhouse gas pollutant. This is not a price Georgians can afford to pay, nor should we have to.
Echols, the commissioner of District 2, was just reelected last November. His only challenger was one other candidate — and it wasn’t a Democrat, but a Libertarian candidate.
We need to start acting now to make sure that our public service commissioners work for us — not the energy companies who are willingly destroying our environment and raising our electric bills to pay for their incompetence.
Each commissioner serves a six year term and is elected by a statewide election, regardless of the district they’re from. That means you can head to the polls to cast your vote against these commissioners when their term is over.
Keep your eyes peeled in 2020 for when Everett’s and McDonald’s term ends, but Eaton’s and Wise’s term is up in 2018. This is a chance for you to shake things up at the PSC.
It may seem like a long way off, but the primaries are less than a year-and-a-half way in May 2018. We need to elect viable candidates to run against these Republican incumbents.
If you’re interested in running against these commissioners yourself, the time to prepare is right now. You can bring a progressive force to the PSC — start gearing up to run today!
We can show these officials that we will fight against footing unreasonably high bills for a corporation that refuses to work toward becoming more environmentally sustainable. Let’s hold these commissioners accountable now and in the coming years.
Want to voice your opposition now? You can reach them at the email addresses below!
Doug Everett (District 1) – [email protected]
Tim Echols (District 2) – [email protected]
Chuck Eaton (District 3) – [email protected]
Lauren “Bubba” McDonald, Jr. (District 4) – [email protected]
Stan Wise (District 5) – [email protected]
Give them a call at their Atlanta office at (404) 656-4501 if you’re in the metro Atlanta area and at (800) 282-5813 if you’re outside the metro Atlanta area.