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.

TVA rate hike possible

Tennessee Valley Authority customers could be facing their biggest electric rate increase in decades. TVA blames costs for coal and purchased power from others have skyrocketed. The impact on TVA's more than 8 million consumers could be a jump in their electric bill of 10 percent to 20 percent on Oct. 1. A 15 percent increase would be TVA's largest rate hike since 1977.

Georgia Power gets approval for rate hike

Customers of Georgia Power can expect the average residential bill to go up by about $2.93 starting in July. Tuesday, the Public Service Commission approved a rate hike request of Georgia Power. The state’s largest utility had asked for an additional 222-million dollars to help pay for higher fuel costs—--the PSC approved an amount about 7-million below that.

Georgia Power to ask for rate hike

Georgia Power wants a three-percent rate increase to cover its rising cost of buying coal and natural gas. The company will take its request to the Public Service Commission. A Georgia Power spokesman says the request is for a "pass through charge"--a non-profit charge only used to recover additional money spent on fuel. If the rate hike request is approved, the average residential customer would see bills go up by about three-dollars a month after June 1st. The PSC will have a decision on May 20th.

Regents approve higher tuition rates

The Board of Regents for the University System of Georgia approved a tuition rate hike Tuesday.

Incoming freshmen at the state’s colleges and universities will pay five percent to eight percent more than last year’s freshmen class.

The cost of one semester at each of the state’s four research universities is up $180 to $2,428; the cost per semester at a four-year university rose $115 to $1,549; and semester tuition at the state colleges rose $59 to $997.

The Board’s “Fixed for Four” program means that the tuition rate is guaranteed for four years for incoming students in fall 2008.

HMO rates could spike in Georgia

A new report predicts big rate hikes for southeasterners who belong to Health Maintenance Organizations – or HMO’s. The Atlanta Business Chronicle says an analysis from Hewitt Associates predicts HMO premium rates to rise next year to their highest levels in four years. Rates could go up 18% in the southeast. That’s compared to 11% at this time last year. Premium rates could also go up 18% in the Midwest.