ATLANTA (AP) — Voters head to the polls Tuesday to choose party nominees for two posts on the Georgia Public Service Commission, which oversees utilities including Georgia Power Co.
There are two separate primary elections taking place. A voter can choose either a Republican ballot or a Democratic ballot. In each race, candidates must live in a certain district, but run statewide.
In the District 2 Republican primary, Lee Muns of Harlem is challenging incumbent Commissioner Tim Echols, who lives in Hoschton. Echols has been on the Public Service Commission since 2011. The winner will face Democrat Alicia Johnson of Augusta in November.
In the District 3 Democratic primary, three people are vying to challenge Republican incumbent Fitz Johnson in November. They are Peter Hubbard and Keisha Waites of Atlanta and Robert Jones of Brookhaven. If no Democrat wins a majority on Tuesday, a runoff will be held on July 15.
Daniel Blackman of Atlanta will appear on ballots in the District 3 Democratic primary, but votes for him will not be counted after a judge ruled he hadn't moved into the district in time to meet the November 2024 deadline
Debate in the primary has centered on bills charged by Georgia Power, a subsidiary of Atlanta-based Southern Co. Georgia Power customers have seen bills rise six times in recent years because of higher natural gas costs, construction projects including two new nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle near Augusta, and other factors. A typical Georgia Power residential customer now pays more than $175 a month, including taxes.
All the challengers are calling for change, while Republican incumbent Tim Echols defends his record.
The five-member commission, currently all Republicans, also oversees some natural gas rates for Atlanta Gas Light and Liberty Gas.
Georgia usually doesn't have statewide elections in odd-numbered years, but these were pushed back after elections were delayed by a lawsuit that unsuccessfully challenged the statewide voting scheme as discriminatory to Black people. No Georgia Public Service Commission elections have been held since 2022 because of the lawsuit.
Johnson was appointed to the commission in 2021 by Gov. Brian Kemp and has never faced voters. He was supposed to run for the last two years of his predecessor’s term in 2022. Instead, the District 3 winner can run again next year for a six-year term, after lawmakers rewrote the terms.
Echols was supposed to run for a six-year term in 2022. Instead, the District 2 winner will serve for five years, with the next election in 2030.
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