Area voters have a rare opportunity to help send a local candidate to statewide office June 17.
The office is the District 2 seat on the Georgia Public Service Commission, and Columbia County business owner Lee Muns is mounting a challenge to incumbent Tim Echols, who has held the post since 2011.
Early voting starts May 27, and Muns and Echols face off in the Republican primary. There’s also a four-way Democratic primary for the District 3 commission seat. The primary winners will face partisan opponents in November. And a court ruling now requires the candidates to live in their districts, but they remain elected statewide.
Muns, who previously served on the Columbia County Board of Education and the state Professional Standards Commission, said the seats ought to be elected by their districts. But that’s one small aspect of his critique of the commission and Echols.
The commission, or PSC, regulates the state’s utilities, such as electricity, gas and telecommunications. But what comes to mind first, to Muns and many, is its role in regulating power production, dominated in the state by behemoth Georgia Power, which expanded and operates nearby Plant Vogtle.
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“The biggest thing facing the PSC is while Georgia Power is the No. 1 power producer in the state, they are not the only entity that sells power,” Muns said. The company “has the greatest skin in the game,” but “it doesn’t mean you get a blank check.”
The PSC’s role in regulating power producers and rates is critical at this time as the state copes with increased demand driven by big-load customers such as the state’s new factories and data centers, such as the one under development near Grovetown, he said.
The demand is “exponential,” but the answer is not expanding Vogtle, Muns said. The Burke County plant experienced extreme cost overruns during construction of two new reactors.
“For the amount of money that was spent building the two units at Vogtle, you could have built… about 25 combined cycle units that produce about 700-800 megawatts of power,” he said.
Muns said he’s ready to bring a “robust conversation” to the PSC about meeting the need using “proven” technology, but without bowing to the demands of Georgia Power.
“Just because you as a utility company desire it, we’re not guaranteeing you that we agree with it,” he said.
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Meanwhile, Echols has “voted for 22 rate increases” during his 15 years in office, Muns said.
Muns, who serves as project manager for Muns Services LLC, which designs and constructs equipment used to build some of these larger users, said many people don’t grasp how a rate increase occurs.
“My wife and I have single moms coming by, and they can’t pay their power bills,” he said. “I understand how that type of rate increase can affect them.”
The typical consumer just wants the lights to come on, unaware that large users – such as Amazon in Columbia County – actually had a choice of which power company to use, he said.
“They don’t have to pay for part of Plant Vogtle as part of their bill,” Muns said.
But, he added, “I’m not saying I’m against Georgia Power.”
“We all have to have a utility, and we want good service and reliability,” Muns said. “But we want it done at an accountable cost. What matters is we’re delivering what is needed in a reliable way for a responsible price.”
Muns acknowledged Echols has had the opportunity to far outraise and outspend him in the election. He said he hopes through media and social media he’ll be able to get his message out there.
“I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that this is a daunting undertaking,” he said. But by using available channels, “I will be able to get my message out there and let people know I am about responsibility, I am about questioning, and I am about taking care of the least for the most.”
