Georgia's new president

Chris Womack was president of Georgia Power for three years. April 1st, 2023, he became president of Southern Company, a giant step up for both his career and his compensation. To prepare, he has purchased the home you see above.

 I am not against career success…I have certainly enjoyed that. And what business is it of mine that he’s purchased a fabulous home and is part of the 1%? Well, because the money he is spending is from us, Georgians who pay Georgia Power bills.

Georgia's poverty rate is 23% above the national average. 1.3 million households in Georgia, or 18% of the state's population, are struggling to pay their energy bills. Every month Georgia Power disconnects over 20,000 households for nonpayment.

Since Georgia Power is a monopoly, the state of Georgia regulates it with the Georgia Public Service Commission, a state agency paid with taxpayer funds. How’s that going for us? It’s going terrible. Commissioners vote to raise our bills, not theirs. They aren't Ga Power customers, who have no representation on the commission.

Let’s take a look at our new Southern Company president, Mr. Womack.

First, I want you to see that although he’ll earn a compensation of probably $20 million annually if he follows in his predecessor Tom Fanning’s footsteps, he cannot add. Here’s a 30 second clip - see for yourself:

Then let’s watch as Mr. Thomas asks Mr. Womack to confirm the impact on customer bills, which Mr. Womack is also unable to do. He is just unable to speculate on “that number at this time”.

Really - you don’t know how much your own rate increase request impacts your own customer’s bills?!?!

And yet…”that number” Mr. Womack refuses to speculate on is correct. Ga Power bills are going up 45% over the next 12 months. That’s INSANE. But Mr. Thomas, attorney for the public interest at the podium, can’t be so tempestuous. He can only say, “Are you disagreeing with that number?”  

Does Mr. Womack really have no grasp of what his company is asking for and its impact on customers? Of course not. He just refuses to say it because he knows how bad it is.

No other utility would dare do such a thing as raise bills this amount in this short of a period. No other state commission would allow it. Only in Georgia.

Let's see, what else. Oh yes. Let's have a little context here regarding Mr. Womack's predecessor. You might not have noticed that Mr. Tom Fanning, Southern Company’s previous president, slunk away into retirement without fanfare end of March. There were no Atlanta Journal-Constitution headlines. There was no city celebration of a beloved CEO retiring....No Atlanta Business Chronicle profile. Why not? Normally when a Fortune 500 CEO retires it’s big news, like when Bernie Marcus retired from Home Depot or when Roberto Goizueta retired from Coca Cola.

 It’s partly because of the shame of Plant Vogtle’s Units 3 and 4 that are still not producing electricity after 13 years of trying and a cost of $34 billion and growing. But it’s also because of a scandal related to Matrix. No, not the movie. A real life scandal that reveals Mr. Fanning has been having an affair, and numerous other unbelievable ethical violations. 

From the story above, “The Matrix scandal is a political and corporate scandal involving the use of private investigators, intimidation campaigns, and smear tactics by the Southern Company and its subsidiaries, including Alabama Power. The scandal came to light in 2022, when it was revealed that Matrix, a long-time consultant for Alabama Power, had hired a private investigator to surveil Tom Fanning, the CEO of its parent company, Southern Company.

The surveillance of Fanning was allegedly initiated by Joe Perkins, the founder of Matrix, in order to influence corporate decision-making and succession planning. Perkins has denied any wrongdoing, but the scandal has raised questions about the ethics of the Southern Company and its use of private investigators.

The Matrix scandal has also had a significant impact on the political landscape in Alabama. In the wake of the scandal, several state legislators have called for an investigation into the Southern Company's use of private investigators. The scandal has also damaged the reputation of the Southern Company, the seventh largest employer in Georgia.”

Despite the story calling for accountability, there’s been none. Mr. Fanning retired without fanfare, and that’s it. He’s also raked in the dough, earning over $70 million in compensation during his final three years of his office - again, off us paying our expensive Georgia Power bills.

So yeah, I guess slinking off to retirement without fanfare and ceremony is best. Southern Company wouldn’t want y’all to know about any of that, would they? 

So Mr. Fanning retires with his millions and Mr. Womack slides in to replace him.

And that’s why last summer when they tried to take me off the ballot I fought back and won - for Georgia.

Keep in mind, the reason the judge ruled in my favor is because Unethical Echols gave my home address to Commission Chair Pridemore to use in targeting me for removal while claiming he had nothing to do with it...which she did. Texts of him providing her my address were obtained during discovery which were used by my attorney to prove I was illegally targeted. I turned the texts over to the Atlanta Journal who published them in this story.

This resulted in a rare rebuke from the editorial page of the AJC:

Is winning this seat possible against an unethical incumbent and an even more unethical corporation? Georgia Power and Southern Company are so far over the line they don’t even see it.

But the ratchet tightens slowly and eventually the rope will break. I believe we are at that breaking point now. This behavior needs to stop and I mean to be the one to stop it. Before I go I'd like to let readers see how rates have changed under Tim Echols leadership. I wonder how voters are going to feel once they see this. I'm pretty sure I know.

EIA doesn't publish data for the prior year until October. The Ga PSC has a rate survey they do though: https://psc.ga.gov/utilities/electric/residential-rate-survey/

And in this rate survey there's this:

The percentage increase between 2010 when Commissioner Echols took office and 2023 is a stunning 40%. Yup, that's right. In the 13 years Commissioner Echols has been in office he's never seen a rate increase he didn't vote yes to, and his many yes votes totals 40% higher bills.

Oh, one last thing...that's before Plant Vogtle's costs get put into the rates.

Yeah, voters will care.