Georgia Power Asks for Higher Rates to Pay for New Plants

ATLANTA-In an innovative, five-year proposal, Georgia Power, one of the country’s largest generators of electricity, is asking the Georgia Public Service Commission to approve a 1.2% annual increase on customer rates, or allow the company instead, to earn between an 11% and 13.5% annual return on equity.

The utility says it needs the marginal rate increase to pay for a new construction phase that comprises 5,500 megawatts of new generation over the next five years; 300 miles of new transmission valued at $1.4 billion; and expenses of $875 million on environmental controls.

“Those costs have resulted in a capital spending budget of $1.6 billion in 2001,” Georgia Power president/CEO David Ratcliffe says in a prepared statement. “Those costs need to be added to the rate base.”