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Dear Decaturish,

On March 7^th, the city of Decatur Commissioners took a bold step by voting to join the cities of Athens-Clarke, Savannah, and Atlanta, as well as Fulton and Dekalb counties, to intervene in the Georgia Power Integrated Resource Plan (IRP). Sounds boring? But it’s really important stuff.

Every three years, Georgia Power is required to present their IRP to the Public Utilities Commission on how they will generate electricity over the next 20 years, and what they will charge for it.

Why should we care? The choices they make will affect how much clean energy they generate, whether you can economically put solar on your house, if we can afford to weatherize the homes of our economically disadvantaged citizens, and more.

By joining a group of other cities and counties as an official intervenor, Decatur will advocate in three areas: 1) Renewable energy, 2)Energy efficiency, and Access to data. More specifically:

1. Lifting the limit and restrictions on how much we get paid for sending excess solar energy back to the grid, double income-qualified solar pilot subscriptions, expanding electrification of transportation infrastructure and more.

2. Increasing Georgia Power’s RISE program to weatherize low income homes and develop funding for local implementation and control.

3. Getting better access to data, so we can make smarter decisions about our energy.

We all know that how we generate our electricity is important in the amount of pollution we pump into our air, our health, and the safety of our kids. Thanks to the commissioners for being forward-looking. Anyone who wants to help in this effort can contact me at All In for Decatur 100.

– Hobie Stocking

All In for Decatur 100

Decatur100.com

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