Category: Southern Company

Dalton Utilities Vogtle Nuclear Plant

Big-Dollar Contributors with Ties to Georgia Power and Southern Company Bet on Pridemore, Eaton for Georgia PSC

Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) incumbents Tricia Pridemore and Chuck Eaton each received approximately two-thirds of their campaign contributions from people or companies associated with regulated entities such as Georgia...

/ May 1, 2018
Georgia PSC Commissioner Tim Echols (center) following a tour of the Vogtle plant. Photo c/o NRC flickr page.

Georgia PSC messages reveal cozy relationship with Georgia Power, possible ex parte communications

Records from Georgia PSC Commissioner Tim Echols show him using Georgia Power's talking points instead of PSC Staff's analysis, collaborating with utility on media efforts. The documents raise questions about...

/ March 7, 2018

Will the U.S. Chamber continue to fight the EPA’s endangerment finding in 2018?

Update January 10, 2018: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce confirmed today it is no longer trying to overturn the EPA’s endangerment finding for greenhouse gas emissions, but top U.S. Chamber officials...

/ January 4, 2018
Dalton Utilities Vogtle Nuclear Plant

Dalton Utilities Stonewalls Georgia PSC, Public on Vogtle Information Affecting its Customers

As 1.6% owners of the Vogtle nuclear power plant, customers of Dalton Utilities may be wondering how much they will be on the hook for cost overruns, especially as the...

/ December 19, 2017

Stan Wise may be gift-wrapping an early Christmas present for Georgia Power at customers’ expense

In an apparent gift to Georgia Power, Public Service Commission Chairman Stan Wise unilaterally decided to speed up the timeline for a decision about whether the monopoly utility could continue...

/ December 12, 2017

Electric utilities working with oil and gas companies on ‘advocacy’ efforts to counter environmentalists

The electric utility industry, through its trade association the Edison Electric Institute, has begun working with three other fossil fuel groups to push back against organizations that oppose increased natural...

/ November 7, 2017

Decades before Harvey and Irma, electric utilities knew climate change could fuel more powerful storms and still funded denial

A 1987 study sponsored by the electric utility industry warned that climate change could one day fuel more powerful storms, some thirty years before hurricanes Harvey and Irma. Despite this...

/ September 14, 2017
Dalton Utilities Vogtle Nuclear Plant

Despite Spiraling Costs and Its Own Bungling, Southern Company Wants to Complete Vogtle Plant

This guest post about the Vogtle plant was authored by Dan Zegart and cross-posted from the Climate Investigations Center. With Southern Company’s board voting today to green light the completion of the...

/ August 30, 2017
Tom Fanning appears on CNBC on August 16, 2017.

Unlike CEO peers, Southern’s Tom Fanning declines to denounce Trump after Charlottesville

Unlike his CEO peers, Tom Fanning of Southern Co. declined to denounce Trump's response to white supremacy in the wake of Charlottesville.

/ August 21, 2017

Utility Companies Quick To Fund Republican Governors and Attorneys General in 2017

The nation’s investor-owned utilities have been quick to help Republican governors and attorneys general maintain and expand their control of state capitals, according to a review of mid-year campaign finance...

/ August 8, 2017