Endorsement: Utility in Voting Tuesday Will Require Paying Close Attention to Your Burgess
You Should Vote Tuesday, December 5.
Yes. This Tuesday. It’s run-off day here in Georgia. Polls are open from 7 AM until 7 PM and your vote matters not only to your fellow citizens but directly to your pocket book. The big race is for Georgia Public Service Commission. These are the folks who decide how much you pay for electricity and other services.
This is a statewide election between Chuck Eaton and David Burgess. Both men have not been the best candidates. Eaton’s website indicates he thinks he can do something about our natural gas prices, which the PSC no longer regulates. He’s worried the prices have gone up and yet at the same time he wants more of the market solutions that have brought us our current problems. Still he has pledged to take no money from the industries he regulates.
Burgess is chair of the PSC and has taken industry money. Still he’s the more experienced of the two. He has 24 years of experience working in the utility regulation field. Burgess, however, has voted with the Utilities against keeping rates lower repeatedly. Yes, eventually if the cost of raw materials goes up and if the demand goes up, price needs to move to meet it. However, Burgesses financial connections to the industry create a cloud through which his true motives are tough to discern.
Ultimately, voters have to decide how vigilant they are willing to be. If they are willing to do the work, they should re-elect Burgess and hold his feet to the fire. Make him use his knowledge and contacts in the industry to leverage greener, more cost-effective output. Let’s just hope that Georgians are willing to pay enough attention.
After all, in the long term, the more green we put into our energy system, the more green we’ll all have in our wallets.