Former Georgia Public Service Commission candidate Patty Durand has founded a utility watchdog that she envisions as providing a new way to hold state regulators and Georgia Power accountable.
Durand’s newly formed Georgia Utility Watch’s initial goal is to restore a consumer advocacy group similar to the state’s former Consumers Utility Counsel, which represented residential and small business owners in utility rate cases until it was disbanded during the state’s budget cuts in response to the financial crisis in 2008.
Among Georgia Utility Watch’s goals is a prohibition against stipulated agreements between the PSC and Georgia Power until after the hearing process is completed and to ensure data centers do not pass on their energy costs to small businesses and residential customers…