Consumer Empowerment Workshops

Georgia Watch is excited to launch our Consumer Empowerment Workshops that seek to inform and enable consumers to protect their financial interests. Especially designed to help vulnerable populations, such as low- and - moderate income individuals and seniors, these one-hour classes on a series of topics will help participants to enhance their financial proficiency. In partnership with CredAbility, an Atlanta-based non-profit credit counseling and education organization, we are able to leverage our resources and carry out our goal to educate thousands of individuals about financial stability, asset building and avoiding scams. We are offering classes on seven different topics, including the importance of bank accounts, credit ratings, and advocacy, just to name a few. We are slated to begin our Consumer Empowerment Workshops at the Butler Park Recreation Center in Atlanta and we look forward to scheduling workshops at Friendship Baptist Church and the Fulton Atlanta Community Action Agency (FACAA) in the near future.

Here is a list of the workshops we offer. If you would like to schedule a workshop, please contact Karla Johnson at 404-525-1085 or email kjohnson@georgiawatch.org.

Yesterday, the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) held the first hearing on Georgia Power's request for approval of massive cost overruns at Plant Vogtle. Consumer Energy Program Director Liz Coyle and regulatory attorney Bobby Baker teamed up to question Company witnesses about the causes of a 21 month delay and $737 million cost increase on the project.

Incredibly, Georgia Power is not only asking the PSC to pass those overruns onto consumers in the form of higher bills, but also that the PSC change the certified cost to complete the project from $6.11 billion to $6.85 billion. If they agree, Commissioners would effectively be giving Georgia Power the ability to claim they're not over budget when clearly they are! And it would make it much more difficult for the Commission to later disallow cost overruns they deem imprudent.

The next scheduled hearing is August 13. Georgia Watch will be there looking out for consumers!