PSC approves Georgia Power's energy plan

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The Georgia Public Service Commission approved Georgia Power's long-term energy plan but rejected a requirement for utility-sponsored conservation incentives. SACE spokesman Jim Presswood expressed mixed reaction, noting the company failed to commit to conservation but left room for future negotiation on an energy efficiency program.

They have not made a commitment. However, they did leave the door open.
Jim Presswood

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PSC approves Georgia Power's
energy plan

The Associated Press - ATLANTA

The Public Service Commission has approved
Georgia Power's plan to meet the state's
electricity needs _ but without a requirement
that the utility offer incentives for customers to
reduce power use.

Commissioners did approve an amendment
Friday requiring the company and its critics to
begin negotiating with each other to devise an
energy efficiency program by February.
That got a mixed reaction from conservation
groups.

"They have not made a commitment," said Jim
Presswood, spokesman for the Southern
Alliance for Clean Energy. However, Presswood
said, "they did leave the door open."

Georgia Power spokeswoman Lolita Browning
said the PSC move "puts in place a program to
come up with something that works."

The conservation portion was just a part of the
long-term plan.

Also included were planned investments in
transmission lines, purchased power contracts,
and the possibility of building new plants,
including the company's renewed interest in new
nuclear plants.

The conservation battle was the most heated.
Efficiency advocates say Georgia Power has
been flouting the intent of state law by adopting
no conservation program for the past nine years.
Since 1995, the PSC and the company have
been considering such programs by using a

cost-benefit test that weeds them out. The test
measures whether an incentive program would
put "upward pressure" on electric rates by
reducing overall power sales.