At present, the Georgia Public Service Commission is not adequately representing the interests of the citizens of Georgia, Alicia Johnson, Democratic Party nominee for District 2 on the Commission, told Oconee County Democrats last week.
The current Republican members of the Public Service Commission “see themselves more as an extension of the utility companies rather than a regulatory authority that represents the needs of Georgia families,” she said.
The Commission has granted Georgia Power six electricity rate increases since the start of 2023, she said, and while it has voted to keep the current rate in place through 2028, that “is kind of a sham,” she said.
Georgia Power will be allowed to seek rate increases next year to cover damages caused by Hurricane Helene and other storms, she noted.
Most of Oconee County is in the service area of Walton EMC, but Johnson said the decisions that the Public Service Commission makes “trickle down even to EMC customers, who in effect are paying for their electricity from Georgia Power.”
Walton EMC is one of 38 owners of Oglethorpe Power, which co-owns Plant Vogtle nuclear plant with Georgia Power and wholesales electricity from Georgia Power to its members. The Public Service Commission sets the rates for Georgia Power, but not for the EMCs.
Johnson was one of two speakers to address the Thursday evening meeting of the Democratic Party at the Oconee County Library in Wire Park, attended by 46 persons.
The other was Georgia Democratic Party Chair Charlie Bailey, who emphasized how important he sees the two Public Service Commission races on the Nov. 4 ballot for the party.
Johnson
Johnson, who lives in Savannah, joined the Sept. 18 meeting of the Oconee County Democrats via Zoom. She is Georgia Managing Principal at Health Management Associates and holds a doctorate in communications.
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| Johnson 9/18/2025 |
District 2 includes Oconee County and consists of 38 counties from eastern metropolitan Atlanta to the Savannah River and from Hart County to Chatham County.
Johnson will be joined on the ballot on Nov. 4 by District 3 Democratic Party Nominee Peter Hubbard, founder of the Georgia Center for Energy Solutions, a nonprofit. Hubbard spoke to the Oconee County Democrats via Zoom in May.
District 3 consists only of Clayton, DeKalb, and Fulton counties.
All five members of the current Public Service Commission are Republicans.
Incumbent District 2 Commissioner Tim Echols and Incumbent District 3 Commissioner Fitz Johnson are seeking re-election.
While the candidates must live in the District they represent, they must run statewide, and voters across the state will be voting on Nov. 4 both for District 2 and District 3 candidates.
“We can win these races,” Bailey told the Democrat on Thursday.
“And the shock that that will send around the entire state, what that will mean for (U.S. Sen.) Jon’s (Ossoff) reelection and our ability to get more money in here to get a governor elected–you cannot overstate it.”
Johnson’s Introduction
“I'm a wife, a mother, a proven advocate who spent my career fighting for fairness and accountability and opportunity across Georgia,” Johnson said in introducing herself to the Oconee County Democrats on Thursday evening.
“I'm running for Public Service Commission because I believe energy is not a privilege, that it's a necessity,” she said. “And whether you live in Atlanta or Savannah or the beautiful county of Oconee, you deserve reliable, affordable power that puts people over profits.”
“You've heard a lot, I'm sure, about our current Public Service Commission that sees themselves more as an extension of the utility companies rather than a regulatory authority that represents the needs of Georgia families back to those utilities,” she said.
“Your county is just a shinning example of one of the things that make Georgia strong,” she said. “With the growing population, your county blends that great rural heritage with new growth.”
“And with new growth comes lots of pressures like rising utility bills, infrastructure demands, and the need to balance development with protecting the character of your community,” she said.
“But most importantly, it also requires making sure that working families have what they need to live and thrive,” she said.
“And right now, the families across Georgia are energy burdened, they’re rent burdened, and we need to do something about that,” Johnson said.
“We shouldn't be having utility bills that look like mortgage payments, and car notes," she said.
Changes Planned
“And so as a commissioner, one of the things that I will strive to do is make sure that the Public Service Commission is more accountable,” Johnson said, “that utilities must justify every rate, and that families in your county and across Georgia should not be paying the bill for all these unchecked rate hikes and unchecked corporate profit.”
Johnson said the current Public Service Commission has failed “to ensure that we have reliable infrastructure, and that there's balanced energy planning, so we can fight for a mix that helps to keep our cost fair with creating good paying jobs, and jobs that can boost the Georgia economy across the state.”
Johnson said that “this campaign for the PSC is less about politics and more about people. It's about the seniors in your community on fixed incomes."
“It's about farmers,” she said. “It's about small businesses keeping their operations running."
“It's about families building their futures,” she continued. “It’s about families keeping their lights on and making sure that kids can do homework and take warm showers before going to school.”
“Our Public Service Commission is fully Republican,” she said. “They've raised rates in our community six times. They've given Georgia Power a blank check to pass their cost to us.”
“I think that this is a wonderful opportunity for you and I to take our rage to the ballot box and to do what needs to be done,” she said.
“I've talked to seniors who are literally choosing not to run their air conditioner in suffocating heat in Georgia, if you can imagine, because they have to choose between their electric bill and their food or their electric bill and their prescriptions,” Johnson said.
“And that's unacceptable,” she said.
Bailey On Plans
Bailey, elected this year to chair the Democratic Party of Georgia, said “We’ve got one job, and that's elect as many Democrats to as many positions across the entire state as is humanly possible.”
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| Bailey 9/18/2025 |
“As long as I am chair,” he said, “we’re not taking any votes for granted, and we’re not giving up on any votes. We’re fighting for votes everywhere in the state.”
“You all are in a county like my home county, Harris County, where Republicans have won it for a long time,” he said.
Bailey said Democrats “might not win in Oconee County...That's a generational kind of project.”
“The votes you can squeeze out here, you make up a margin of 200, 500, 400 votes” statewide, he said.
“That adds up,” he said, “and you're a part of something larger than yourself.”
“We're going to fight everywhere, and we're going to cut into these margins everywhere. And so doing, that's how we're going to re-elect Jon Ossoff to the United States Senate.”
“That's how we're going get a Democratic governor and a Democratic lieutenant governor and how we're going cut into these margins in the state legislature,” he said.
Republican Party Meetings
I was not able to attend the Aug. 25 meeting of the Oconee County Republican Party, but I had arranged for another person to attend and report on the meeting for me.
Unfortunately, a family health emergency prevented that person from attending.
The party does not allow video or audio recording of its meetings.
Party Chair Kathy Hurley reported in a Sept. 17 mass email that incumbent Republican District 3 Public Service Commissioner Fitz Johnson did speak at the Aug. 25 meeting.
Hurley said Johnson “focused on two points: The vast difference between Democrat policies regarding energy...and the massive opportunity that a low voter turnout would bring to his Democrat opponent.”
Hurley reported that other speakers at that meeting were Takosha Swan, who is running for lieutenant governor, and Reagan Box, who is running for United States Senate.
Michael Ransom, Chair of the Oconee County Board of Education, is scheduled to speak on the upcoming Education Local Option Sales Tax referendum at the meeting at 6 p.m. on Monday (Sept. 22) at the Piedmont Oconee Health Campus lobby meeting room, 1305 Jennings Mills Road.
Other scheduled speakers are: incumbent Republican District 2 Public Service Commissioner Tim Echols; Marc McMain, candidate for Georgia Senate District 48; and Brian Strickland, who is seeking the post of Georgia attorney general.
“At the top of the meeting we will honor the life and legacy of the late Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA,” Hurley wrote.
Democratic Party August Meeting
I also was not able to attend the Democratic Party Aug. 21 meeting, but Party Chair Harold Thompson agreed to place my camera on a tripod at the rear of the room to produce a recording.
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| Whitehead 8/21/2025 |
Hattie Thomas Whitehead, author of Giving Voice To Linnentown and Linnentown–The Musical, was featured speaker.
The musical, performed at The Classic Center Theatre from Sept. 12 to 14, presents the story of the removal of Linnentown, an African-American community in Athens, as part of an urban renewal project that allowed for expansion of the University of Georgia campus.
“I was born in Linnentown,” Whitehead told the gathered Democrats. “I lived there with my parents. My three brothers and three sisters...The community was on 22 acres of land--22 acres of land.”
“There were 55 families there,” she continued. “And all of us children--I was a child, and we played all over the neighborhood.”
The community was off Baxter Street, not far from the stadium, where the University dorms currently are located.
“We had hardworking adults--plumbers, electricians, carpenters, cooks, janitors,” she said. “And they worked hard. The adults worked hard.”
“Everybody looked out for everybody,” she said.
“They didn't know what urban renewal was and what it meant,” she said. “Sometimes, how do we even pronounce it?”
“After the urban renewal contract was signed in 1962, it was the University of Georgia's responsibility to get us to move out,” she said.
“The last family moved out in 1966,” she said, “and the community was erased. The community was erased.”
Video
The first video below is of the Sept. 18 meeting of the Oconee County Democrats.
Johnson began her comments at 7:43 in the video.
Bailey began his comments at 31:39.
The second video is of the Aug. 21 meeting of the Oconee County Democrats.
Whitehead began her comments at 5:39 in the video.
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