HB617: HB617 Public utilities; reestablish a consumer utility counsel to represent consumers in matters before the Public Service Commission or other agencies

Georgia's Title 46 currently has a reserved, unused chapter (Chapter 10) that once housed a consumer advocate for utility ratepayers. This bill fills that chapter back in, creating the Office of the Consumers' Utility Counsel, assigned administratively to the Department of Law, and headed by a director. The director would represent individual residential customers and small businesses (ten or fewer employees, $100,000 or less in annual after-tax income) in cases before the Public Service Commission and, when relevant, before federal agencies and courts. The bill lays out how the director is chosen (by a five-person panel of House and Senate leaders plus a Governor's appointee), sets the director's pay equal to a district attorney's salary, and requires an annual activity report to top state officials. It also gives the director the power to get advance notice of Commission filings, take depositions, hire staff and experts, and use Commission technical staff, all funded through money appropriated to the Commission for this purpose.

• Creates the Office of the Consumers' Utility Counsel within the Department of Law to represent residential and small-business utility consumers.
• Establishes a director position, appointed and removable by a five-member committee of House and Senate leaders and a Governor's appointee, who cannot be affiliated with a utility.
• Sets the director's salary equal to a district attorney's pay under O.C.G.A. § 45-7-4(21) and bars the director from private legal practice while in the role.
• Requires the Public Service Commission to give the director advance written notice (at least ten days) of filings and to make its technical staff available to assist the director.
• Authorizes the director to take depositions, conduct discovery, hire staff and experts, and appear before the Commission, federal agencies, and courts on behalf of consumers.
• Requires the director to submit a yearly written report on the office's activities and spending to the Governor, legislative leaders, and relevant committee chairs.

Residential utility customers and small businesses with ten or fewer employees and modest income would gain a dedicated legal advocate. The Public Service Commission, the Department of Law, and legislative leaders who help appoint the director are also directly affected, as are utility companies whose rate cases the office could intervene in.

If enacted, everyday Georgians and small businesses would have a state-funded lawyer specifically arguing their side in utility rate cases and other Commission proceedings, rather than relying solely on Commission staff or utilities' own filings to shape decisions that affect electricity, gas, water, or phone bills.

• Section 46-10-1 states the legislative purpose: ensuring the Commission gets adequate consumer information, especially in cases affecting most Georgians.
• Section 46-10-2 defines 'consumer' to include individual household users and small commercial entities with ten or fewer employees and $100,000 or less in annual after-tax income.
• Section 46-10-3 creates the office and director position and details the five-member appointment committee and director's salary and reporting duties.
• Section 46-10-4 authorizes the director to appear in Commission, federal agency, and court proceedings on behalf of consumers, including initiating complaints.
• Section 46-10-5 requires the Commission to serve the director with notices and filings and give at least ten days' written notice before hearing matters where the director may appear.
• Section 46-10-6 lets the director hire staff and experts, funded only through money appropriated for that purpose, with the director's and staff's pay coming from Commission-appropriated funds.
• Section 46-10-7 requires Commission technical staff to assist the director and gives the director access to Commission records on the same terms as commissioners.
• Section 2 repeals conflicting laws.

1. 2025-02-27House Second Readers (House)
2. 2025-02-26House First Readers (House)
3. 2025-02-24House Hopper (House)

• Ruwa Romman (D, HD-097)Primary sponsor
• Jordan Ridley (R, HD-022)
• Karen Lupton (D, HD-083)
• Alan Powell (R, HD-033)
• Beth Camp (R, HD-135)
• Scott Holcomb (D, HD-101)

• public utilities
• consumer protection
• Public Service Commission
• utility rates
• state government offices