Anyone else struggling with Georgia Power's redesigned customer portal? They rolled out updates last month and now it's nearly impossible to export historical usage data in a usable format. The CSV downloads are missing critical fields like demand readings and power factor data. Spent two hours yesterday trying to get 24 months of data for a Schedule PL-1 audit. Their phone support claims 'it's working as designed' but this is clearly a step backward for auditors.
Georgia Power's new online portal is terrible for auditing
Rachel, I'm seeing the same issues! The old portal wasn't perfect but at least you could get complete data exports. Now the demand charges are showing up as generic 'Distribution Charge' with no breakdown. Makes it impossible to verify Schedule PL-3 billing without requesting paper bills. Filed a complaint with the PSC but who knows if that will help.
This is becoming a trend unfortunately. CPS Energy did something similar two years ago - 'improved' their portal and removed half the data fields auditors actually need. Took six months of complaints before they added an 'auditor view' with the missing information. You might need to escalate this through business customer services rather than regular support.
Jorge, that's encouraging that CPS eventually fixed it. Derek, are you having any luck with workarounds? I tried using browser developer tools to see if the data is there but hidden, but no luck. The JSON responses from their API are clearly missing the demand breakdown fields.
Only workaround I've found is requesting bills directly from the utility through their business office. They can email PDFs going back 24 months, but it takes 3-5 business days and you have to provide account numbers and authorization letters. Not ideal when clients want quick turnaround times. The irony is their old portal data was more detailed than these PDFs.
Had a similar issue with Santee Cooper last year. What worked was having several large commercial customers complain directly to their account reps. Utilities listen when big customers threaten to switch or complain about administrative burdens. If you have clients willing to make some calls, that might be more effective than auditor complaints alone.
Margaret, great suggestion. I have three clients with multiple Georgia Power accounts who are frustrated about this too. They're already paying me extra time to work around the portal issues, so they might be willing to escalate with their reps. Going to draft a letter outlining the specific missing data fields and business impact.
Rachel, mind sharing that letter template when you're done? I do some work in northern Georgia and would love to have something ready if this affects my clients too. Also wondering if there's a way to get the old portal data archived somewhere before they fully sunset the old system.
Tamara, absolutely. I'll post it here once I get client approval. Good point about archiving old data - might be worth doing massive downloads now while the old portal still works for historical data. Anyone know how far back the old system goes?
Old portal goes back 36 months for most account types, 60 months if you have their premium business service. I'd definitely grab everything now before they shut it down completely. Heard through the grapevine that the cutover is scheduled for March, though that's not official.
This is exactly why I've been hesitant to fully digitize my workflow. Utilities change systems every few years and we're always left scrambling. At least with paper bills, the format stays consistent. Though I admit the efficiency gains from digital data are hard to ignore when everything works properly.
This thread highlights a bigger issue we're seeing across the industry. Utilities are prioritizing customer experience over data accessibility for third parties like auditors. I've started reaching out to AAUBA members to document these portal changes and their impact on our profession. If we can quantify the business disruption, we might have more leverage in discussions with utility commissions. Rachel, definitely get those clients to complain - customer voices carry more weight than ours alone.