Georgia Power

File:Georgia Power Company bus routes for Rome, Georgia.jpg in Rome, Georgia]]

Originally the Georgia Railway and Power Company, it began in 1902 as a company running the streetcars in Atlanta and was the successor to the Atlanta Consolidated Street Railway Company. In the 1930s, the company published a free newsletter called Two Bells which was distributed on its streetcars. Two Bells was carried on being distributed into the 1960s on the buses of a successor Atlanta Transit Company (ATC).Kurtz, p.69 From 1937 until 1950, Georgia Power also operated trolleybuses in Atlanta, and in 1950 its network of 31 electric bus routes was the largest trolley bus system in the United States.Sebree, Mac; and Ward, Paul (1974). The Trolley Coach in North America, pp. 14–19. Los Angeles: Interurbans. LCCN 74-20367. After the Atlanta transit strike of 1950, the Atlanta Transit Company took over operations. Atlanta Streetcar was formed in the 2000s to establish a new streetcar service along Peachtree Street.{{Citation needed|date=March 2018}}

The company built several dams, including the Morgan Falls Dam just north of the city, and some as far away as the Tallulah River in the northeast Georgia mountains. These hydroelectric dams form Lake Burton, Lake Seed, Lake Rabun, Lake Tallulah Falls, Lake Tugalo, and Lake Yonah, the last two of which straddle the Georgia – South Carolina border on the Tugaloo River.{{Citation needed|date=March 2018}}

Following cost increases in August 2018 for building two additional nuclear reactors at its Vogtle Electric Generating Plant, credit rating agency Moody's downgraded Georgia Power's credit ratings from A3 (upper medium) to Baa1 (lower medium).{{cite news |url=https://www.myajc.com/business/economy/moody-downgrades-georgia-power-credit-rating-over-new-vogtle-costs/PGqCbXerkZUjZLM5pnrXYN/ |title=Moody's downgrades Georgia Power's credit rating over new Plant Vogtle costs |last=Ondieki |first=Anastaciah |work=The Atlanta Journal-Constitution |date=9 August 2018 |access-date=16 August 2018}}{{cite news |url=https://www.power-eng.com/articles/2018/08/vogtle-cost-upgrade-causes-rethinking-of-nuclear-plant-s-future.html |title='Vogtle Cost Upgrade Causes Rethinking of $25B Nuclear Plant's Future |last=Walton |first=Rod |work=Power Engineering |date=9 August 2018 |access-date=16 August 2018}}

In September 2018, in order to sustain the project, Georgia Power agreed to pay an additional proportion of the costs of the smaller project partners if completion costs exceeded $9.2 billion.{{cite news |url=http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/Vogtle-construction-to-continue |title=Vogtle owners vote to continue construction |publisher=World Nuclear News |date=27 September 2018 |access-date=28 September 2018}}

In 2019, Georgia Power's CEO, Paul Bowers, testified before state regulators seeking to get an approval for the company's request to add about $200 a year to the average residential customer's bills.{{Cite web|url=https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/georgia-power-questioned-on-plan-to-add-200-annually-to-average-bill/992044767/|title=Georgia Power questioned on plan to add $200 annually to average bill|last=Kempner|first=Matt|date=2019-10-01|website=WSBTV|language=en-US|access-date=2020-02-04}}

In June 2021, Georgia Power again sought a $235 million a year rates increase once Vogtle unit 3 starts operation, an overall 10% increase in rates, to recover capital construction costs and operating costs.{{cite news |url=https://www.neimagazine.com/news/newsgeorgia-power-seeks-rate-increase-to-pay-for-vogtle-8837352 |title=Georgia Power seeks rate increase to pay for Vogtle |publisher=Nuclear Engineering International |date=21 June 2021 |access-date=28 September 2021}}

In August 2022, the EPA fined Georgia Power $1,906 after an Atlanta facility failed an audit for oil spill prevention. Among other violations, it was found that Georgia Power had no method of predicting a potential oil spill, no containment plan, and inadequate facility drainage.{{cite web |date=August 2, 2022 |title=DOCKET NO.: CWA-04-2022-0406(b) |url=https://yosemite.epa.gov/OA/RHC/EPAAdmin.nsf/CAFOs%20and%20ESAs/5878F7F763E8EDE485258894000B056E/$File/Georgia%20Power.ESA.8.2.22.CWA-04-2022-0406(b).pdf |access-date=3 October 2022 |website=EPA Administrative Enforcement Dockets}}

{{Main|Plant Scherer}}

Georgia Power operates the Robert W. Scherer Power Plant, also known as Plant Scherer, in Monroe County, Georgia. According to Natural History Magazine, in 2006 Plant Scherer was the largest single point-source for carbon dioxide emissions in the United States.{{cite web|url=http://www.naturalhistorymag.com/0506/0506_feature.html |title=Natural History Magazine | Feature |access-date=2008-09-02 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201164130/http://www.naturalhistorymag.com/0506/0506_feature.html |archive-date=2008-12-01 }} It was also ranked the 20th in the world in terms of carbon dioxide emissions by the Center for Global Development on its list of global power plants in November 2007. It was the only power plant in the United States that was listed among the world's top 25 carbon dioxide producers.{{cite web|url=http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-11/cfgd-crc111207.php |title=CGD ranks CO2 emissions from power plants worldwide | EurekAlert! Science News |website=Eurekalert.org |date=2007-11-14 |access-date=2016-08-11}}

Georgia Power utilizes transmission lines carrying 115,000 volts, 230,000 volts and 500,000 volts. Georgia Power has interconnections with the Tennessee Valley Authority to the north, sister company Alabama Power to the west, Dominion Energy and Duke Energy to the east, and Florida Power & Light, Duke, and the city of Tallahassee to the south.{{Citation needed|date=May 2022}}

{{Main|Coal phase out}}

Georgia Power asked the state's public service commission for approval to convert the coal-fired Plant Mitchell to run on wood fuel. If approved, the retrofit would have begun in 2011 and the biomass plant would have started operating in mid-2012. The {{convert|96|MW|abbr=on|lk=on}} biomass plant would have run on surplus wood from suppliers within a {{convert|100|mi|abbr=on}} radius of the plant, which is located near Albany, Georgia. However, in 2014, the company announced it was decertifying the plant and intended to close its operations by April 2015;{{Cite news|url=http://www.unionrecorder.com/gallery/news/plant-branch-still-operating-closure-imminent/article_0ad78f0e-379f-11e4-98d0-001a4bcf887a.html|title=Plant Branch still operating, closure imminent|work=The Union-Recorder|access-date=2018-03-02|language=en}} Plant Mitchell was shut down in 2016; {{Asof|2022|lc=yes}}, discharged water from the plant's ash pond is being monitored.{{cite web |title=Plant Mitchell |url=https://www.georgiapower.com/company/environmental-compliance/plant-list/plant-mitchell.html |publisher=Georgia Power |access-date=16 September 2022}}

Georgia Power owns and operates a total of 46 generating plants which include hydroelectric dams, fossil fueled generating plants and nuclear power plants, which provide electricity to more than 2.4 million customers in all but four of Georgia's counties.{{cite web |url=http://www.georgiapower.com/about/plants.asp |title=Plants - Georgia Power |access-date=2008-11-24 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081204060530/http://www.georgiapower.com/about/plants.asp |archive-date=2008-12-04 }}

Georgia Power Hydro incorporates 19 hydro electric generating units to produce a generation capacity of 1,087,536 kilowatts (KW). Georgia Power Hydro facilities also provide more than {{convert|45985|acre|abbr=on}} of water and more than {{convert|1057|mi|abbr=on}} of shoreline for habitat and recreational use.

{{Reflist}}

• Kurtz, Wilber, "Technical Advisor: The Making of Gone With The Wind. The Hollywood Journals", Atlanta Historical Journal, Vol. XXII, No.2, Summer, 1978.

• {{Official website|www.georgiapower.com}}
• [http://www.southerncompany.com/ Southern Company]
• [http://georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu/topics/historical_markers/county/fulton/georgia-power Georgia Power] historical marker
• [http://georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu/topics/historical_markers/county/dekalb/georgia-railway-and-power-company-trolley-waiting-station Georgia Railway and Power Company Trolley Waiting Station] historical marker

{{Georgia Power}}

{{Atlanta companies}}

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Category:Companies based in Atlanta

Category:Electric power companies of the United States

Category:Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange

Category:Energy infrastructure in Georgia (U.S. state)

Category:1945 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state)

Category:Hydroelectric power companies of the United States

Category:Nuclear power companies of the United States

Category:Energy companies established in 1945

Category:Non-renewable resource companies established in 1945

Category:Southern Company

Category:Energy in Georgia (U.S. state)