ATLANTA — Bills will be going up starting Jan. 1 for Georgia Power's customers across the state.
The Georgia Public Service Commission voted 4-1 on Tuesday for a plan projected to cost customers an additional $1.77 billion over the next three years.
The company says it needs the money to cover rising costs. A Georgia Power spokesman says a residential customer who uses 1,000 kilowatt hours of power a month will see bills rise by nearly $6 a month beginning next month.
The monthly charge that residential customers pay to connect to the grid will rise from $10 now to $12 in 2021 and $14 in 2022.
A spokesperson for the company told 11Alive the decision enables the company to "continue investing in Georgia’s energy future through investments in the reliability and resiliency of the state’s electrical system, environmental programs to comply with federal and state regulations, and storm restoration efforts."
According to the company, today's rates are nearly 16 percent below the national average, and customers are paying less than $1 more per month at those rates than they were in 2011.
"For nearly 30 years, the company’s rates have increased less than the rate of inflation," the spokesperson continued, adding that customers will pay less after the approved increase than they paid in 1990 on an inflation-adjusted basis.
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