Georgia’s legislative activities primarily deal with renewable energy deployment and permitting, such as solar easements that allow negotiation for assurance to continued access to sunlight as established in the Solar Easements Act of 1978. The Legislature also enacted legislation in 2001 for net metering of photovoltaics, wind, and fuel cells and related interconnection standards. [1, 2, 3]
Georgia’s Public Service Commission began looking at Real Time Pricing seriously in 1996, and by 2000 Georgia Power, had moved to real-time pricing for industrials. They established a pilot critical peak pricing for residential consumers, Time-of-Use and Demand-based rates in 2008. Starting in 2008 Georgia also provided power for electric transportation along existing lines with adequate capacity. [4, 5]
“Georgia Power has operated the nation’s largest real-time pricing program directed at large commercial and industrial customers since the mid-1990s. Its current subscribers include approximately 1,200 medium to large industrial and commercial customers (greater than 250 kW), amounting to more than 4,000 MW of summer peak demand. Most of the customers participate in the day-ahead program, in which they receive information on the next day’s hourly prices on the afternoon of the previous day. About 100 of the largest industrial customers participate in an hour-ahead program, in which customers receive a day-ahead forecast of hourly prices, but only an hour’s notice of the firm price in the next hour. Customers are offered a variety of price protection products to shield them from price volatility. They can chose the combination of risk exposure that best matches their attitudes toward risk and their ability to adjust their operations in response to variations in the price of power. The maximum load reductions on the moderate price day are approximately 4 percent for day-ahead customers and 10 percent for hour-ahead customers. On the high price day, estimated load reductions rise to 7 percent for day-ahead customers and 30 percent for hour-ahead customers.” 
“Via an August 2006 Order, the Georgia Public Service Commission said it would consider PURPA Standard 14 (“Time-Based Metering and Communications”) as enacted in EPACT 2005 vis-à-vis Georgia Power’s 2007 Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) in a proceeding established for the IRP. Therefore, it directed Georgia Power to address EPACT 1252 in its 2007 IRP. In January 2007, Georgia Power filed its 2007 IRP in which it outlined plans to introduce three new demand response tariff s—critical-peak pricing for large industrial customers, critical-peak pricing for residential customers, and TOU pricing for residential customers. In July 2007, the Commission Staff filed its recommendations regarding EPACT 1252:
“The Staff recommends that the Commission find that the Company has had certain demand response programs such as RTP for large commercial and industrial customers and a Pilot A/C cycling program for residential customers in place for many years. The Company has also informed the Commission that it has begun the deployment of smart meters in conjunction with their plans to introduce three new load-control programs in its 2007 base rate filing which will be addressed by many parties. The Staff recommends that the Commission direct the Company to make a filing that details the plans for these three new programs (or show where this information is located in their 2007 rate case filing) and provide an update on the status of the deployment of the smart meters.” In August 2007, the Commission adopted wholesale its Staff’s recommendations about EPACT 1252.” 
The demand-based rates measure the on-peak kW and all other times and bill customers based on the highest kW used in a given 30 minute time.
Time-of-Use rates, depending on the rate are a combination of seasonal, on-peak rate, an off-peak rate, and/or customer specific.
Critical peak pricing requires Automated Metering Infrastructure where the company will notify the customer one day in advance of a critical peak pricing period and the customer must reduce their usage in order to get a credit.
The real-time pricing is based on the quoted hourly price available to the Consumer either 60 minutes in advance of the time the power flows or eight hours in advance of the day the power flows.
Utilities and Rate Schedules
- Georgia Power Residential Rates
- Georgia Power Business Rates
Oglethorpe Power Corporation
See the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) for information on consumer-owned Cooperatives: http://www.nreca.org/members/MemberDirectory/Pages/default.aspx
Georgia has several incentives on renewable energy generation including corporate and personal tax credits, sales tax exemptions for biomass, and a state rebate program. Also several utilities offer rebates on solar.
More information can be found in the Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency (DSIRE): http://www.dsireusa.org/incentives/index.cfm?re=1&ee=1&spv=0&st=0&srp=1&state=GA
State Energy Office:
- Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority Division of Energy Resources
State Authority Dealing with Energy Regulation:
- Georgia Public Service Commission
- Docket Search: http://www.psc.state.ga.us/
Code of Georgia
Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency (DSIRE): http://www.dsireusa.org/incentives/index.cfm?re=1&ee=1&spv=0&st=0&srp=1&state=GA
 Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency, Georgia – Net Metering, 06/18/2009. URL: http://www.dsireusa.org/incentives/incentive.cfm?Incentive_Code=GA02R&re=1&ee=1
 Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency, Georgia Solar Easements, 09/15/2009. URL: http://www.dsireusa.org/incentives/incentive.cfm?Incentive_Code=GA01R&re=1&ee=1
 Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency, Georgia Interconnection Standards, 06/18/2009. URL: http://www.dsireusa.org/incentives/incentive.cfm?Incentive_Code=GA04R&re=1&ee=1
 Georgia Power, Residential Pricing – Georgia Power. URL: http://www.georgiapower.com/pricing/residential/
 Georgia Power, Business Pricing – Georgia Power. URL: http://www.georgiapower.com/pricing/gpc_rates.asp
 Demand Response and Smart Metering Policy Actions Since the Energy Policy Act of 2005: A Summary for State Officials, Prepared by the U.S. Demand Response Coordinating Committee for The National Council on Electricity Policy, Fall 2008. URL: http://www.oe.energy.gov/DocumentsandMedia/NCEP_Demand_Response_1208.pdf
 Draft for Comment of the National Action Plan on Demand Response The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Staff Docket No. AD09-10, Prepared with the support of The Brattle Group, GMMB, Customer Performance Group, David Lineweber. URL: http://www.ferc.gov/legal/staff-reports/03-12-10-demand-response.pdf