ATLANTA – Georgia Power executives gave state energy regulators chapter and verse last month on why the company needs a huge increase in electrical generating capacity to serve its 2.7 million customers.
Soon, environmental and consumer advocates will get their turn.
The Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) will hold a second round of hearings Feb. 29 and March 1 on Georgia Power’s request for 6,600 megawatts of additional capacity, up from just 400 megawatts the company forecast it needed two years ago.
Georgia Power executives attribute the anticipated huge increase in demand for electricity to unprecedented economic growth in the Peach State. That growth has generated more than 38,000 jobs and $24 billion in capital investment since the PSC approved the utility’s most recent Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) in 2022, Jeff Grubb, the company’s director of resource policy and planning, wrote in testimony filed with the PSC ahead of last month’s first round of hearings.
IRPs, normally submitted to the commission every three years, lay out the mix of energy sources Georgia Power intends to rely on for power generation during the next two decades.
“Nothing in the company or state’s history could have anticipated growth of this magnitude,” Grubb wrote. “Importantly, similar growth is also being experienced by other utilities nationally as they face similar trends in increased electricity demand.”
Francisco Valle, Georgia Power’s director of forecasting analytics, said the explosion of electric vehicle manufacturing, EV battery production and emerging clean-energy technologies in Georgia are driving much of the demand for power. But the biggest factor – accounting for about 80% of the demand – is the growing number of energy-intensive data centers popping up across the state.
“You can’t just locate a data center anywhere in the country,” Valle said. “You have to have the infrastructure to be able to provide the service for them. Georgia checks the boxes in many levels for these customers.”
Some of the additional electricity Georgia Power is seeking permission to generate would come from stepping up investment in renewable energy projects, including battery storage and distributed generation such as rooftop solar.
But much of the new power would be generated by natural gas, including the construction of three new gas combustion turbines at Plant Yates near Newnan, a power purchasing agreement (PPA) with Mississippi Power – a sister company of Georgia Power – and a second PPA with Florida-based Santa Rosa Energy Center LLC. Such “dispatchable” sources of power can be turned on and off by the utility depending on real-time need.
“Until there’s new technologies that we aren’t aware of yet, you’re going to need dispatchable resources for cold winter mornings,” Grubb testified last month. “There’s always going to need to be some resources that can hit those really peak times.”
Representatives of environmental groups that have filed as intervenors in the case are questioning whether Georgia Power needs such a huge increase in generating capacity.
Kim Scott of Georgia WAND said earlier forecasts of the company’s capacity needs have failed to materialize.
“Georgia’s grid is vastly overbuilt with reserves of 40%, or nearly three times the annual amount recommended by the National Electric Reliability Corp. for the Southeast, which is 15%,” she said. “Does it make sense to add more capacity … when the grid was already overbuilt?”
Valle disagreed with Scott’s characterization of Georgia Power’s forecasting prowess.
“Our forecast is very accurate,” he said. “When you compare the performance of the forecast year after year … the average deviation that we have had for the last 10 years is less than 1%. … So, it’s very much on target.”
Tim Echols, the commission’s vice chairman, expressed similar skepticism as Scott about the company’s forecast, noting that Georgia Power already has raised customer rates several times in the last couple of years.
“My greatest concern is that your estimates are wrong,” Echols told the Georgia Power executives who testified at last month’s hearing. “We secure all this power and your revenue falls short and we have to go to ratepayers and claim that. … We just can’t do that.”
“What if you’re wrong, and you put upward pressure on rates by building for demand that doesn’t come?” Commissioner Tricia Pridemore added.
But Grubb in his pre-filed testimony wrote that Georgia Power likely won’t have to raise rates because the increased electrical generating capacity will produce enough revenue to offset the cost of the additional resources.
The PSC is scheduled vote on the proposal April 16.
ATLANTA – The nonprofit health-care organization CareSource is donating $1 million to a program that helps young people aging out of Georgia’s foster care system.
The General Assembly passed legislation unanimously in 2022 creating a tax credit to help fund wraparound services aimed at removing barriers to education for youths leaving foster care. The list of services includes tuition assistance at technical schools or state colleges, food, medical care, rental assistance, and money for transportation.
Under the Fostering Success Act, individual taxpayers can receive dollar-for-dollar state income tax credits for up to $2,500 per year contributed to a qualified foster support organization, while married couples filing jointly can receive up to $5,000. Corporate donations are limited to 10% of the company’s annual tax liability. The program raised nearly $10 million during its first year.
“By providing young people with the resources they need to become independent and educated, we help to create paths to healthier futures and strengthen their communities by decreasing the risk of homelessness, poverty, and incarceration,” said Bobby Cagle, executive director of CareSource Georgia and former commissioner of the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning.
Georgia currently has more than 11,000 children in foster care, and about 700 age out of the system each year. Research shows that more than 30% of those young people will experience homelessness, 70% will be forced to rely on welfare programs, and almost 90% of boys will spend time in jail.
“Many young adults who age out of the foster care system have no support network and often little hope for the future,” said Heidi Carr, executive director of Fostering Success Act Inc., which helps administer the tax credit program. “We empower these young people to pursue their dreams by connecting them to resources and organizations that can offer support.”
The $1 million contribution from CareSource Georgia follows a $5 million donation the organization announced last month to help financially struggling rural hospitals.
CareSource Georgia operates a managed-care health plan that serves more than 450,000 Georgians.
ATLANTA – Casinos are back on the table in the General Assembly.
The state Senate Economic Development and Tourism Committee approved a proposed constitutional amendment late Thursday calling for Georgia voters to decide whether to legalize not only sports betting but casino gambling. Other gambling legislation before the General Assembly this year is limited to sports betting.
Casinos would produce much more economic impact than sports betting, Sen. Carden Summers, R-Cordele, chief sponsor of Senate Resolution 538, told committee members Thursday.
Georgians are already gambling in casinos, with more than 80,000 traveling to out-of-state casinos each year, Summers said. The rub is that the jobs and tax revenue those casinos generate don’t come back to Georgia.
Summers pointed to the funding the Georgia Lottery has generated for HOPE Scholarship and pre-kindergarten students as an example of what legalized gambling already has done for the Peach State.
“The lottery’s been wonderful for our children,” he said.
Under Senate Resolution 538, 50% of the tax revenue produced by sports betting and casinos would go toward transportation improvements. Another 20% would be dedicated to pre-kindergarten and child-care programs.
The other 30% would be divided equally among mental health and gambling addiction programs, rural health care, and Georgia’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
Summers also noted that Georgia lawmakers have debated legalizing gambling for years, but none of the many bills on the issue has made it through the General Assembly.
“Let’s put this issue to bed,” he urged members of the committee. “I trust the people of Georgia to make this decision.”
Local political and business leaders from Columbus and Henry and Liberty counties spoke in support of the bill, citing the potential economic impact of casinos. Senate Resolution 538 calls for the construction of five casinos around the state.
But Mike Griffin, public affairs representative for the Georgia Baptist Mission Board, said talking about the economic benefits of legalized gambling ignores the social costs. He said casinos would be accompanied by a rise in addictive gambling, sex trafficking, and suicide.
“We can’t let money be the reason we do everything,” Griffin said. “We can’t let money be the ultimate moral standard.”
The resolution now moves to the Senate Rules Committee to schedule a floor vote.
ATLANTA – Legislation that criminalizes the use of “deepfakes” generated by artificial intelligence to impersonate candidates in political campaign ads cleared the Georgia House of Representatives Thursday.
House Bill 986, which passed 148-22, creates the crime of fraudulent election interference. Anyone who knowingly perpetrates a political deepfake within 90 days of an election would face two to five years in prison and a fine of up to $50,000.
“We want to protect good political free speech,” Rep. Brad Thomas, R-Holly Springs, the bill’s chief sponsor, said on the House floor before Thursday’s vote. “But fraud is not protected speech.”
The legislation applies to “materially deceptive” video or audio deepfakes but carves out exceptions including satire, parody, artistic expression and journalism. It also allows deepfakes to be used in campaign ads as long as they acknowledge the candidate is being impersonated and the events depicted may not have occurred.
Nonetheless, the bill drew objections that it would violate free speech rights. Rep. Charlice Byrd, R-Woodstock, compared it to the Patriot Act Congress passed in 2001 following the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon outside Washington, D.C.
“This bill is an affront to our First Amendment rights,” Byrd said. “In the process of providing security, you abolish liberty.”
But the measure’s supporters said deliberately spreading false information during a political campaign is not protected by the U.S. Constitution.
“How can we have election integrity without knowing what the candidates are truly saying?” said Rep. Todd Jones, R-South Forsyth, chairman of the House Technology and Infrastructure Innovation Committee, which approved the bill last week. “Don’t we want truth in advertising?”
ATLANTA – The state Senate passed a $37.5 billion midyear budget Thursday that increases spending by $5 billion, including $2 billion from an unprecedented $16 billion surplus.
The legislation, which sailed through the Senate 54-1, represents a 9.4% increase over the fiscal 2024 budget the General Assembly passed last spring.
The Senate agreed with 95% of the spending recommendations Gov. Brian Kemp made when he presented the midyear budget last month, including $1,000 one-time pay supplements for public school teachers and state and University System of Georgia employees.
More than 58% of the funding goes to education and more than 22% to health care, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Blake Tillery told his Senate colleagues before Thursday’s vote.
Despite the massive budget reserves, the governor and legislature remain committed to a conservative approach to spending, said Tillery, R-Vidalia.
“We can’t invest in every good idea that approaches our desks,” he said. “We have not started new positions. We’ve also tried not to start new programs.”
However, the surplus will allow the state to fund capital projects from cash this year rather than the usual practice of borrowing the money. Tillery said that approach will save Georgia taxpayers.
“We’re using our savings to avoid the record-high inflation we see in the bond market,” Tillery said.
The list of building projects in the midyear budget includes $450 million for a new state prison in Washington County, $178 million for a new dental school at Georgia Southern University’s Armstrong campus in Savannah, and $50 million for a new medical school at the University of Georgia in Athens.
After the Senate passed the midyear budget, the House disagreed with the Senate version of the spending plan, and the two chambers appointed members of a joint conference committee that will work out the two legislative chambers’ differences.
After the General Assembly approves the midyear budget, which covers state spending through June 30, lawmakers will begin work on Kemp’s fiscal 2025 budget proposals.
ATLANTA – Legislation that would create a state council to set standards for books that could be banned from public school libraries as obscene cleared a Georgia Senate committee late Wednesday.
“This bill is about making sure our public school libraries are not places for kids to be exposed to sexually explicit materials,” Sen. Clint Dixon, R-Buford, chairman of the Senate Education and Youth Committee and the bill’s chief sponsor, said before the vote.
Senate Bill 394 would create the Georgia Council of Library Materials Standards, whose members would be appointed by the governor, lieutenant governor, speaker of the House, House minority leader, and Senate minority leader. The council would create a grading system that would be used to decide which books fit the legal definition of “harmful to minors” or “sexually explicit” and therefore should be banned.
Schools that fail to comply with the standards the council sets forth would not be subject to criminal charges. However, they would be subject to complaints from parents that potentially could lead to lawsuits.
Spokesman for several faith-based organizations spoke out in support of the bill Wednesday.
Taylor Hawkins of FrontLine Policy Council said the measure simply requires keeping the same material out of the hands of children in the public schools that is already prohibited on the streets of Georgia.
“It’s a common-sense bill,” he said.
But several civil rights advocates and educators complained he bill could be used to target books about homosexuality.
Tracey Nance, Georgia’s 2020-21 Teacher of the Year, said about 10% of the state’s population identifies as LGBTQ.
“This bill is not what Georgians want and, more importantly, it’s not who Georgians are,” she said.
Sen. Elena Parent, D-Atlanta, who voted against the legislation, said gay Americans enjoy full legal rights now that the U.S. Supreme Court has legalized gay marriage.
“There are going to be children in schools whose parents are gay,” she said. “(This bill) is an attempt to indoctrinate values.”
But Republicans on the committee said the legislation is not an effort to marginalize any groups of Georgians.
“We’re not singling out any specific act of sexuality,” said Sen. Ed Setzler, R-Acworth. “It’s not attempting to indoctrinate students.”
The legislation now moves to the Senate Rules Committee to schedule a floor vote.
