Where electricity bills are on the ballot

Clockwise from top left: downtown Atlanta at night; high-voltage transmission lines near Rome, Ga.; a QTS data center in Atlanta's Howell Station neighborhood; Georgia Power's coal-fired Plant Bowen in Euharlee, Ga.

- BY JUSTIN WORLAND

It's a familiar look for the organization office of an in the Deep South rooted in decades of fighting for civil rights. Displayed on the wall are inspirational quotes from James Baldwin, Audre Lorde, and Killer Mike. In the conference room, the group has hung maps of the six wards of Albany, Ga.―a useful guide for the on-the-ground organizing work that mobilizes residents to protest and vote.

But the issue at hand on this balmy August afternoon at the headquarters of SOWEGA Rising isn't the typical topic for civil rights organizers.

Around the table, a group of activists from across the region are talking about something wonky, almost quotidian: electricity bills. For years, residents of this part of south Georgia have faced electricity bills that locals say often exceed their rent. Now, organizers around the table say they have an opportunity to do something about it--if they can persuade voters to care about the virtually unknown Public Service Commission (PSC), the state's key utility regulator. In November, two seats on the powerful panel are up for grabs.

Seated between an environmental activist and the head of SOWEGA Rising, a longtime organizer named Lethia Kittrell, from the nearby town of Fitzgerald, described how the issue of power prices has galvanized her community. People respond viscerally to utility-bill discussions, and her PSC candidate forum drew dozens of voters--including a large contingent of young people. It's a surprising turnout for a town of 9,000, she says. "The conversation is just beginning down here," says Kittrell.