VALDOSTA — Two seats are up for grabs on the often overlooked but highly influential Georgia Public Service Commission this election year.

The PSC exercises its authority and influence to ensure Georgia residents have safe, reliable and reasonably priced telecommunications, electric and natural gas services, according to the PSC’s website.

John Noel, Democratic candidate for District 3 of the commission, said the PSC sets the rates energy companies can charge its customers. 

“It’s a regulatory body set up more than 100 years ago to be the arbiter of power rates and spending for monopoly utilities, primarily Georgia Power and Atlanta Gas and Light,” Noel said.

Georgia Power is a privately owned and operated business, but it doesn’t get to call the shots, he said. The PSC sets the rates the power companies can charge and the kind of rate structures they can have.

If Noel wins the primary race against Lindy Miller and Johnny White on May 22, he will run against incumbent Chuck Eaton, a Republican. 

Noel is running because he said current members on the commission have been bought by the power companies. He said he will bring change and represent the people.

“There are five people sitting in fancy chairs in some room on the fourth floor of a building in Atlanta making decisions for us and we don’t have a clue who they are,” Noel said. “I want to change that.”

For 19 years, Noel owned his own energy business, Energy & Environment. The business specializes in energy-efficient projects. 

“My whole life, my job has been reducing people’s energy bills,” he said. “I know a little something about energy and being efficient.”

He said the current commission is less in favor of keeping rates low and more interested in helping power companies. He said the best example of this is the $25 billion nuclear Plant Vogtle.

Noel said the state doesn’t need the plant but it will end up costing people money. 

“All of our power rates are going to go up for the privilege of having a nuclear plant we don’t even need,” he said. “So a vote for the incumbent is a vote for higher rates.”

He said he would cut the state’s losses with the project and end the construction on Plant Vogtle. He would like the state to move to more efficient green energy such as solar and wind, he said. 

“We need to quit building dinosaur plants and be more innovative,” Noel said. “You need a Public Service Commission that’s looking after your interest and not those at the utility company.”

Thomas Lynn is a government and education reporter for The Valdosta Daily Times. He can be reached at (229)244-3400 ext. 1256