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EPSA URGES GEORGIA REGULATORS TO PRESERVE COMPETITIVE PROCUREMENT TO PROTECT RATEPAYERS
Attempt by Southern's Georgia Subsidiary to Pass the Buck to Consumers Should be Rejected
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Electric Power Supply Association (EPSA) has filed a detailed brief with the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) in opposition to Georgia Power Company's unjustified request for a blanket exemption for certain future baseload power requirements from the state's laudable competitive procurement rules. Georgia Power is a subsidiary of Southern Company. The Georgia PSC is expected to rule on the request at a meeting set for July 12, 2007.
"EPSA is proud to be on the same side as the Georgia Consumers' Utility Counsel and other affected stakeholders in strongly opposing this attempted end run around the state's competitive procurement rules," said EPSA President and CEO John E. Shelk. "It is telling that no party to this proceeding other than Georgia Power itself supports this power grab," Shelk added.
"Southern Company's own CEO's remarks to Southeast utility regulators in Little Rock earlier this month was ominously titled 'Back to the Future, Again.' While he spoke positively about the manner in which his company met the energy challenges of the 1970s and 1980s, Georgia ratepayers remember all too well the massive cost overruns and other problems at Plant Vogtle. The fact that Georgia Power seeks this exemption to expand Plant Vogtle at a time of rising costs to build new power plants should be chilling to the state’s consumers," Shelk said.
Shelk and Southern Company CEO David Ratcliffe appeared on the same panel before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on February 27, 2007. Shelk testified, "Why are some utilities afraid of competitive procurement? If their plan for meeting the needs of retail customers is the best option, after taking all other options into consideration, then - and only then - they should prevail. If, on the other hand, opposition to competitive procurement, evasion of existing rules, and exemptions for certain types of plants is wielded as an anti-competitive club against unaffiliated generators seeking nothing more than the opportunity to propose a less costly alternative to a utility's self-build plans, then there must be a remedy." Four months later, Mr. Ratcliffe has yet to answer why Southern Company fears competition.
Shelk concluded, "Georgia utility regulators wisely adopted competitive procurement rules to protect ratepayers, just as the state legislature enacted laws to get taxpayers the best deal by requiring competitive procurement when the state buys goods and services. In fact, Georgia Power's attorney spoke in favor of the rules as recently as the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners Annual Meeting in November 2006. Those rules are needed now more than ever. The self-serving request for an exemption should be denied."
A copy of EPSA's brief is available on www.epsa.org.
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CONTACT: JOHN SHELK
(202) 349-0154or 703-472-8660
EPSA is the national trade association representing competitive power suppliers, including generators and marketers. These suppliers, who account for nearly 40 percent of the installed generating capacity in the United States, provide reliable and competitively priced electricity from environmentally responsible facilities serving global power markets. EPSA seeks to bring the benefits of competition to all power customers.