The news of the Georgia Public Service Commission's approval of the Georgia Power nuclear plant expansion comes as no surprise.

The PSC has generally favored most of the requests of Georgia Power, at least in some degree, in the past. This particular approval of the expansion may indeed be a good decision.

The PSC was the victim of an end run by the lobbyist dominated legislature which undertook to provide Georgia Power and in effect, their parent, the Southern Company, with a goodie that falls in the same category as AIG bailouts, the main differences being in the total amounts.

We have in various commentaries pointed out some of the flaws in the Power Play Bailout. The worst part being that residential common folk ratepayers having to pay for the investment for six or seven years in advance of getting the first benefit.

We say "common folk" because the big power users, big business and industry are exempt from the advance "investment with no ownership" that residential and small business rate payers will be required to make. It's like a lottery that residential ratepayers are guaranteed not to win. It almost reminds us of the Panhandlers of Atlanta, who always want Georgia taxpayers to pay for Atlanta's amenities and transit systems.

Where is it written this is what our legislators should be doing?

Even more lopsided thinking went into the plan to also exempt all the ratepayers outside Georgia from paying the advance penalty. A substantial percentage of the power generated in Georgia is sold to customers out of state. Clearly, the big winners in this lottery are the out-of-state customers, the Georgia industrial customers and Southern Company stockholders.

You might say the Georgia legislators who supported this strange hand in our pocket seem somewhat misguided since it sure seems like that hand is picking our pockets rather than protecting the ratepayers' best interests.

Since the Georgia version of AIG bailout ( SB-31 ) has already passed both houses of the legislature, it is now wholly up to Governor Sonny Perdue to either sign or veto this legislation. Your message by fax, phone, or e-mail to the governor could be helpful.

Contact Governor Perdue
Find Your Legislator
Contact Georgia PSC
Contact Georgia Power

The other important thing you should do is check how both your representative and senator voted on the Power Play Bailout. It might give you a good voter guide for elections to come.

Jeff Davis is a retired radio-TV journalist living in Gainesville, GA. Active in civic and political affairs, he is past president of the Georgia Jaycees and former campaign chairman of the Georgia Republican party. He volunteers as chairman of the Georgia Heritage Council. He is a collateral descendant of President Jefferson Davis and a member of SCV Camp 1404 in Gainesville and National Chairman of Public Relations and Media for SCV.