Baker Opines PSC Violated Law

Georgia's top attorney has ruled that the Public Service Commission had no authority to defy a 16-year-old state law when it voted to extend the tenure of its chairman. Since 1992, the PSC chair has served for one year. Recently, however, the PSC voted to increase the chair's tenure from one to two years.

Commissioner Bobby Baker was one of two who voted against extending the tenure. The other was Commissioner Chuck Eaton. Both are seen as strong consumer advocates.

"I had advised the commissioners from the very beginning that we couldn't ignore the law and the PSC wasn't empowered to take unilateral action to ignore the law and change. I'm hoping that everybody will sit down and review the attorney general's opinion and do the right thing," says Baker.

The man next in line to lead the PSC is Commissioner Stan Wise of Marietta. Wise responded to the AG's opinion saying …

"It's just that. It's an opinion. And so, if Chairman Everett steps down and I assume the chairmanship on July 1st, it remains to be seen if somebody can and will challenge this commission if I continue past January 1st."

A legislative attempt earlier this year to extend the one year tenure made it out of the state House of Representatives but died on the floor of the Senate. Current PSC Chair Doug Everett is scheduled to step down June 30. Under the new rules, Everett will serve another year, absent a legal challenge.

Baker Set to Weigh in On PSC Tenure Vote

By a vote of three to two, the Public Service Commission elected to throw out a 16 year old state law, and increase the tenure of its chairman from one to two years. And the group choose Sam Wise to serve as its chair for two years beginning in July.

Commissioner Robert Baker was one of those who voted against the change. Long seen as a strong consumer advocate, under the old rules Baker would become PSC chairman in 2012. But, right now Baker says he’s taking a wait and see approach.

"We anticipate that we'll be getting a response back from the attorney general within a couple of weeks. We hope that will resolve the issue once and for all regarding the validity of the current statute."

Earlier this year, the Georgia House of Representatives said 'yes' to a bill that would have changed state law and increased the PSC chair's term of tenure. But the measure failed in the Senate.

And, although an official opinion has not be issued by state Attorney General Thurbert Baker, a spokesman for his office says the PSC does not have the power to invalidate a state law.

Plant Vogtle Nuclear Expansion in Hearings

The construction of two nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle near Augusta will be before Georgia's Public Service Commission this week.

At the same time, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission will also consider the plan. The NRC will begin holding hearings Monday on how the plants would affect the Savannah River. Opponents say the plan will use too much water from the river. The reactors would draw millions of gallons of water each day for its cooling towers.

But the company that manages Plant Vogtle says the reactors will use a tiny percentage of river water, returning a portion to the Savannah.

The hearing will focus on those arguments and whether dredging the river to ship in large portions of the reactors would cause environmental problems.

The Atomic Safety and Licensing Board begins four-day public meeting to discuss the early
site permit application for Plant Vogle at the Doubletree Hotel and Convention Center, 2651 Perimeter Parkway, Augusta.
Contacts: U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 301-415-8200

Georgia Power Wants Delay In Fuel Hike Request

Georgia Power is asking the Public Service Commission to delay its request for a fuel charge hike. Bobby Baker with the PSC says they just received a letter asking to push back the company’s hearing on the request until September:

"Right now the company hasn't provided us with any specific reason for the delay, other than the change in the economic situation here in Georgia and around the country."

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Baker says if the hearing is delayed to September, a PSC decision wouldn’t come until January. That means customers wouldn’t see a hike on the fuel charge item on their bills until early 2010.

Just last week, Georgia Power won approval from state lawmakers to begin charging customers in 2011, for a pair of nuclear reactors under-construction at Plant Vogtle.

PSC Approves Pipeline To Feed Kia Plant

State approval has been given for a natural gas pipeline to fuel the Kia Motors plant under construction in west Georgia. The 12.5 mile line will connect to an existing line already feeding LaGrange.

Under terms of Publis Service Commission approval, the city of LaGrange must provide construction and economic data within 30 days. An operations safety plan is also required for Coweta County.

The KIA plant in West Point is scheduled to open at the end of this year--capable of building 300,000 vehicles at full capacity.

In a statement, PSC Chairman Doug Everett says the new pipeline will promote west Georgia’s economic development.

Percentage of power from proposed new nuclear reactors in Georgia would go out of state

The Georgia Public Service Commission on Wednesday resumes a second round of hearings into whether Georgia Power should raise its rates sooner, rather than later.

The increase would pay for two new proposed nuclear reactors near Waynesboro to generate more electricity for Georgia.

The reactors at the Plant Vogtle nuclear power plant would generate enough electricity for 1.4 million homes.

Georgia Power's key argument for the reactors...demand for electricity in Georgia is increasing with the state's population.

Georgia Power is the majority owner of Vogtle. It owns nearly half the plant. The company wants to increase the rates of its customers beginning in 2011, when construction could start if all goes as planned with federal regulators.

But not all the power from Vogtle will stay in Georgia.

Another one of Vogtle's owners, the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia (MEAG), would sell about 65 percent of the power it receives from Vogtle to electricity suppliers in Alabama and Florida.

That means about 15 percent of Vogtle's new power generation would go out of state.

"Because the (reactors) are built in large blocs, and you receive that resource in a large bloc, and our load changes incrementally over time, it allows us to grow into that resource over time," says Steve Jackson, a vice president at MEAG.

Jackson says the sale will happen for the first 20 years that Vogtle is in service. He expects MEAG's consumers will save money as a result.

MEAG does not plan to charge extra for power to finance construction of the two reactors until after construction is completed.

Environmental groups opposing the plan, though, have questioned whether there's enough demand in Georgia to justify the two nuclear reactors.

"It makes it very confusing to Georgians whether we need these new reactors right now in Georgia," says Sara Barczak, a spokeswoman for the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy. "We're using a lot of Georgia's resources to provide air conditioners and power tv's in Alabama and Florida. I don't think a lot of people would be too excited about that."

Georgia Power says all of its share of power will serve only customers in Georgia.

It's hoping an incremental increase in rates during construction, instead of after, will save billions of dollars in interest.

That rate increase would cost the average homeowner about $109 more a year by 2018...but Georgia Power says waiting to increase rates will cost about $30 a year more.

The new reactors would nearly double the amount of power generated at the plant.

Georgia Public Service Commission considers rate increase for Georgia Power

The Georgia Public Service Commission began another round of hearings this week focusing on how to finance the construction of two new nuclear reactors at the Plant Vogtle power plant in eastern Georgia.

At issue...whether to let Georgia Power raise utility rates sooner, rather than later, to pay for two new nuclear reactors in Burke County, near Waynesboro.

Georgia Power says a rate increase beginning in 2011, while construction of the reactors is in progress, would cut billions of dollars in interest from construction costs.

The average residential utility customer, one whose power bill averages about $100 per month, would start off with an increase of $1.30 a month. The rates would increase each year, with those consumers paying at least $109 more a year by 2018.

"If you don't make any payments on the facility until it goes into service, then a large percentage of what our customers are going to be paying for is the accrual of interest," says Oscar Harper, a vice president at Georgia Power.

Harper estimates that increasing rates on the front end will save ratepayers money after the construction is completed.

But opponents of the reactors say that's risky, and unfair.

They held a press conference outside the PSC headquarters in Atlanta today.

"If you tried this is the competitive market, you'd be out of business instantly," says Neill Herring, a lobbyist and spokesman for the Georgia Sierra Club. "What if Kroger decided they wanted to charge more for groceries if they maybe wanted to build another store? You'd go to Publix. "Who do you go to if the power company does that?"

Construction on the proposed reactors would likely not begin before 2011, and that's only if federal officials approve it.

The hearings continue throughout most of the week.

The PSC will likely make its decision by March, although the state legislature can also vote on a rate increase.

For more information on the hearings, go to www.psc.state.ga.us.

Panel says no to charging ratepayers for nuclear reactors before construction

A panel of the Georgia Public Service Commission says Georgia Power should delay charging customers for construction of two new nuclear power plants in eastern Georgia.

Georgia Power wants to charge its ratepayers now for the construction of two new nuclear reactors at the Plant Vogtle power plant near Waynesboro. They say that would reduce the cost of the plant.

But an independent panel, the PSC's public advocacy staff, has recommended against that.

The panel says current ratepayers should not subsidize a plant that will serve future ratepayers. They say the construction costs should only factor into rates after the plant goes online in 2017, if the new reactors are approved.

Georgia Power is the primary owner of Plant Vogtle. The company estimates the cost of construction to be about $9.8 billion, with Georgia Power funding $4.5 billion. Georgia Power has said its share of the construction costs could increase to $6.4 billion with interest.

The panel's recommendation, meanwhile, is not final. The PSC will make that decision in March.

Barber, former PSC commissioner, dies

Former Georgia Public Service commissioner J. Mac Barber has died. He was 91. A memorial service Friday will honor Barber, one of Georgia's longest-serving elected officials who died in Macon on Sunday. Barber served as a member of the Georgia House of Representatives from 1949 to 1973. He was then elected to the PSC five times and briefly served as mayor of Commerce in the late 1980s. Barber is remembered as an eccentric politician, sometimes sleeping in his office to avoid long commutes.

(Associated Press)

Ga. Power applying for biomass plant permits

Plant Mitchell. (Dave Bender)

Georgia Power Company wants to trade in coal for woodchips to fuel a power plant near Albany. The company is investing in bio mass technology with the hope of saving money.

While bio mass is considered a cleaner fuel source compared to coal, Georgia Power believes it could also be a cheaper solution for producing electricity.

Plant Mitchell turbine area: only one of the facilities three yellow turbines is operational. (Dave Bender)

On a tour of Plant Mitchell in nearby Albany, manager Ronnie Walston explains that Georgia’s millions of acres of forests could be used to power energy producing turbines.

Plant Mitchell water boilers. Coal or wood biomass is heated at the bottom. (Dave Bender)

Currently, the company is experimenting by burning wood chips and similar waste products instead of coal to heat water in the plant's three–story-high boilers. Walston, shouting over the roar of steam turbines in the background:

“The generator takes high-pressure steam from the boiler, turns the generator which delivers 155 megawatts of electrical energy to the grid in Georgia.”

The generator consumes a whopping 62-tons of coal an hour.

Plant Mitchell: Rail cars delivering coal at a siding. (Dave Bender)

After the conversion, the plant would require 160-trucks a day to haul in a million tons of wood chips. While using wood cuts the electrical output by a third, it’s enough to power an estimated 90,000 homes.

Walston says the conversion would keep the plant - which now buys its coal from Appalachia - running for years to come and help the local economy:

“…those dollars now flow out of state. Now, with the biomass – that’s currently not being utilized – will be purchased and consumed here within a 100-mile radius of Plant Mitchell, and so those dollars that previously went out of state will be staying in-state and will create some 50-to-75 jobs in the fuel-harvesting area.”

If successful, the bio mass conversion could happen in 2012.

Control panel at Plant Mitchell. (Dave Bender)

The plan still needs approval from the Environmental Protection Division and the Public Service Commission. A recent study by Oregon state officials show bio mass can cost up to 6.7 per kilowatt hour to produce.

Forbes Magazine ranks Georgia as the third best state in the nation for alternative energy from biomass. The article referenced the amount of privately owned forest in Georgia, more than any other state in the country, as a reason for the state’s ranking. The ranking comes on the heels of CNBC’s including Georgia in the top ten and second in the Southeast in its annual rankings of “America’s Top States for Business.”

EPA estimates show Georgian's pay 6.5 cents for coal produced electricity. The cost of biomass is expected to drop as technologies improve and more plants come online.

Click here for more GPB News coverage about biomass and related alternative energy solutions.

PSC to hear from public on nuclear expansion today

The Georgia Public Service Commission today is seeking public comment on whether it should approve plans for the expansion of a nuclear power plant in eastern Georgia.

The PSC is considering whether Plant Vogtle near Waynesboro should be allowed to build two new nuclear reactors.

The expansion would be among the first in the U.S. in 30 years.

Southern Nuclear Operating Company operates Vogtle. Officials there say the expansion would help meet the growing demand for electricity in Georgia.

But it could also mean a rate hike in energy costs for customers to pay for it.

Environmental groups also argue that new reactors would seriously impact the Savannah River. Proponents deny that.

Any expansion requires approval from both the PSC and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

After today's comment period, the PSC this week will hear testimony from Georgia Power, a primary owner of Plant Vogtle.

It's scheduled to hear from opponents of the expansion in January.

Today's public hearing begins at 10 a.m. at the PSC's offices in Atlanta.

For more information on the web, go to psc.state.ga.us.