Georgia Power bills shocking residents

If your most recent Georgia Power bill looked more like a car payment than an electric bill, you’re not alone.

Unrelenting high temperatures in late May and June have driven electricity usage, and power bills, through the roof.

“I had to do a retake to make sure I paid last month’s bill,” said Columbus resident Traci Condon, whose bill more than doubled from May to June, from $237 to more than $500. “I don’t know what’s going on. I thought last month was high because even that was higher than usual.”

The problem, of course, is the weather. From late May through June, Columbus saw 26 consecutive days with highs in the 90s, according to Alex Gibbs, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Peachtree City, Ga. In the last month, only two days have had highs below 90, and those were in the high 80s. The area has also seen five days with highs over 100, Gibbs said.

That has caused power usage to spike.

Danny Johnson, customer service manager for Georgia Power, said any time there is an extended heat wave like the recent one, his office gets calls. Johnson said the utility advises people to raise their thermostats. In fact, when the temperature tops 100, they recommend setting it at 80 degrees, to keep air conditioners from running constantly.

Robert Watkins, Georgia Power spokesman, said another element of higher summer bills is the summer billing rate. Year-round the utility’s basic charge is about 5 cents per kilowatt hour. From June through September, the first 650 KWH are 5 cents, the next 350 KWH are about 8 cents and any over 1,000 are at 8.7 cents.

Georgia Power offers an online efficiency tool on its website to help customers save money, Johnson said.

It’s not just residential bills that have soared. Laurie Wolfe owns Puddle Jumpers, a child care learning center in north Columbus. Her power bill is usually around $1,000, she said, but jumped to about $1,500, the highest she’s seen in the five-plus years she’s been in business.

Rick McKnight recently built a house in Bibb City, and designed it to be as energy efficient as possible. It is one of a handful of homes in Columbus that have a silver level rating from Earth Craft, which rates energy efficiency. McKnight said his power bill rose 37 percent to $216, to cool his 2600-square-foot home.

McKnight also owns The Kiddie Shoppe in north Columbus, and that bill spiked as well. It rose from about $600 in the spring to close to $1,000 in June.

And it’s been just as hot on the other side of the river, of course.

When Danyell Ballard of Phenix City saw that her Alabama Power bill had gone to $466 from $318, her first thought was, “I’ve got to hide this from my husband. He’s going to flip out.”

The Ballards have weatherproofed their house, put tinting on their windows and set their thermostat on 78, but the bills still keep climbing.

“I’ve done everything I can think of to lower it, but it hasn’t seemed to help,” she said.

This story was originally published July 3, 2011 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Georgia Power bills shocking residents."