I'm auditing bills for a client in Augusta and noticed Georgia Power has been including what appears to be franchise fees in their base "customer charge" without separate disclosure. The monthly customer charge jumped from $11.50 to $14.25 in January, and when I called for explanation, they mentioned "municipal cost recovery" buried in that increase. Shouldn't franchise fees be separately stated? This feels like they're trying to hide a $2.75/month fee increase from regulatory scrutiny.
Georgia Power hiding franchise fees in "customer charge" - need advice
Greg, that definitely sounds fishy. In Georgia, franchise fees should be clearly disclosed as separate line items per PSC regulations. Georgia Power has been playing games with fee bundling for years. I'd pull their current tariff filing and compare the customer charge breakdown to what they're actually billing. If they're rolling franchise fees into base rates without proper disclosure, that's a tariff violation worth pursuing.
I've been dealing with similar issues from Avista up here in Spokane Valley. Utilities love to bundle charges to avoid transparency. The $2.75 increase timing is suspicious - that's often how they phase in new fees without triggering rate case requirements. Check if Augusta recently updated their franchise agreement with Georgia Power. Sometimes utilities pre-collect fees before proper tariff approval.
Rachel and Ernest, thanks for the guidance. I checked the PSC website and Georgia Power's latest tariff filing still shows customer charges at $11.50 for residential and $23.00 for commercial. The $14.25 I'm seeing on recent bills isn't reflected in any approved tariff schedule. I'm documenting this discrepancy and preparing a formal complaint. This could affect thousands of Augusta customers if they're all getting hit with unauthorized charges.
Greg, you're on the right track. Document everything and get screenshots of both the tariff and the actual bills. Georgia Power has deep pockets for legal fights, but they hate PSC scrutiny over unauthorized charges. The fact that it's not in their filed tariff gives you significant leverage. I'd also check with other auditors in Augusta to see if this is widespread. Strength in numbers on these cases.
Greg, this is exactly the kind of billing irregularity that gets utilities in trouble with regulators. The "municipal cost recovery" explanation without proper tariff support is a red flag. In Tennessee, we've had success forcing TVA and other utilities to refund improperly collected charges when they can't produce tariff authorization. Stay persistent and don't let them brush you off with vague explanations about cost recovery.