#GEORGIA POWER UTILITY BILL INSTALL#

Wave of new charges headed for Georgia Power customersīeyond the demand charges for new residential premises, all Georgia Power customers will face additional bill charges slated to start in 2021. Georgia Power has not filed or been required to conduct a cost benefit analysis to demonstrate customer savings from the installation of smart meters, nor has it filed any public information with the regulators indicating the performance of smart meters, according to information provided to EPI by the Georgia PSC. Georgia Power, when reached for comment by EPI, did not provide specific customer savings resulting from the use of smart meters.

#GEORGIA POWER UTILITY BILL INSTALL#

Georgia Power, which first received approval to install smart meters from the Georgia Public Service Commission in 2007, has been unable to demonstrate material customer savings from its smart meters. Demand response programs incentivize customers to shift their consumption of energy away from times when the grid may be strained, such as during the hottest days of a Georgia summer.

More than 1 million Baltimore Gas and Electric customers signed up for a demand response program, almost 90% of whom were receiving bill credits for active participation, according to company documents from 2016. In some cases, when paired with the right rate designs, smart meters have delivered savings.

Utilities, including Georgia Power, have promised smart meters as a way to save customers money. Georgia Commission fails to deliver smart meter savings to customersįor a utility to use demand charges, it must have smart meters installed in order to receive detailed usage information from customers. ComEd came under fire in Illinois for a similar non-coincident demand charge proposal in 2016. However, the demand charges are non-coincident, which means that customers pay for their own period of maximum demand during the month regardless of the stress, or lack thereof, on the grid at that time. Georgia Power purports to be levying the demand charges to align customer behavior with the needs of the grid. Demand charges cannot be known in advance and it may not be immediately apparent to customers what caused their peak demand charges. Residential customers, by contrast, have fewer options to reduce their bills under demand charge rate structures.

News reports and regulatory investigations later revealed that APS’ online tool – which was supposed to help customers find the best rate plan – provided bad advice, putting some 12,000 customers on the wrong rate plan.ĭemand charges are common for commercial and industrial customers who have more resources to help them meaningfully shift or decrease their peak demand, thus avoiding demand charges and reducing strain on the grid.

Arizona Public Service’s (APS) residential demand charges drew protests. Other utilities who have tried to institute residential demand charges have typically been met with fierce backlash from the public. The demand charges will be the default for new residential premises, meaning customers must proactively opt out to avoid demand charges. The new rate schedule, approved by the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) in December 2019, will charge residential customers for a brief period of their highest electrical usage every month, such as when they happen to be using multiple appliances at a time for a few minutes. Georgia Power will begin levying demand charges on new residential premises starting in January 2021.

Georgia power utility bill