Georgia Power offers customers March credit before proposed rate hike

Georgia Power wants to credit customers, then raise rates

Georgia Power is offering a one-time credit to customers for the month of March due to higher than expected earnings in the previous year. It turns out, they also want to raise the rate customers will pay on their bills moving forward.

Don’t be surprised if your electricity bill is a little lower this month. Georgia Power is offering a one-time credit to customers for the month of March.

It's because the company earned $297-million more than expected last year, and the state requires Georgia Power to give back profits over a 12-percent threshold.

However, just as the company is offering a credit of on average $23 for this month, they have asked the public service commission for a rate hike of more than $2-billion. Coincidentally, that would cost customers anywhere between an extra $17 to $23 dollars each month to cover rising fuel prices.

Customers told FOX 5 that would wipe out any savings they would get.

"They’re trying to give you a little credit one month just to hike it up for the rest of the year," said Liz Covin, a Georgia Power customer. "For a lot of Georgia residents, that might be a little punch to the budget."

Thermostat

"I don’t think it’s a huge amount considering what the bills usually are," said customer Dorothy Chandler "Right now, people are struggling, and people who struggle to pay their power bills will continue to struggle."

Charline Whyte, a senior representative for the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign, said Georgia Power already pushed through a $4-dollar-a-month increase earlier this year. Rates are set to go up again next year, and the year after.

"It’s very unfair," Whyte said. "People out there are suffering. People out there are having a hard time making ends meet. And every dollar matters."

Georgia Power

Georgia spokesman John Kraft said the company legally cannot take money from those extra profits and apply them to its fuel costs. The utility can only give that money back through the credits, which come out to the average $23-dollars for this month. He emphasized it is not a rate reduction.

"The fuel cost recovery is a separate regulatory process. It has to be handled that way. And sharing from the earnings side is a separate regulatory process," he said.

The Public Service Commission could make a decision on the request sometime this spring.