The Problem

Your power bill didn't go up by accident. Between 2023 and 2025, Georgia Power raised rates six times — while its parent company Southern Company saw profits grow by $400 million in 2024 alone. Average customer bills have risen $43 a month since 2023. In 2024, more than 150,000 Georgia households needed energy assistance just to keep the lights on.

This happened because Georgia is one of only a handful of states in the country with no independent advocate to represent ratepayers before the Public Service Commission. Georgia Power negotiates with the PSC essentially unopposed — and residential customers pay whatever results.

At the same time, Georgia faces a shortage of more than 365,000 homes. In our coastal district, that shortage hits hardest on the people who keep our economy running — teachers, nurses, hospitality workers, first responders — who can't afford to live where they work. Glynn County alone needs more than 9,500 additional housing units. In Long County near Fort Stewart, military families struggle to find affordable options. In rural McIntosh County, the lack of available homes makes it nearly impossible to recruit the essential workers our communities need.

These aren't separate problems. When people can't afford their utility bills or a home, they leave. And when they leave, our communities shrink.

How We Got Here

Georgia abolished its independent consumer utility advocate in 2008 — an office that had protected ratepayers for over 30 years. Without it, there is no one in the room fighting for you when Georgia Power presents its rate requests. In December 2025, the all-Republican PSC rushed through a sweeping long-term energy plan just days before two newly elected Democratic commissioners — chosen by voters for stronger consumer protection — could be sworn in.

Bipartisan legislation to restore the consumer utility advocate passed committee with overwhelming support but was blocked in the Senate Rules Committee by legislators who had received campaign contributions from Georgia Power. That fight is not over.

On housing, decades of restrictive zoning, underbuilding, and rising construction costs created a shortage that rapid population growth has made worse.

What I Will Do

Affordable utilities and affordable homes are not luxuries. They are the foundation that lets families stay in the communities they love. I will fight for both.

I will fight to restore Georgia's independent consumer utility advocate — a bipartisan effort with overwhelming legislative support that was blocked by legislators who received campaign contributions from the very utilities they were supposed to oversee — so that ratepayers have someone in the room fighting for them in every PSC proceeding.

On housing, I commit to driving these solutions:

• Update zoning codes to allow duplexes, triplexes, and small-scale multifamily buildings in more areas

• Require local governments to approve qualified affordable housing projects within 90 days

• Reduce or waive impact fees for new affordable units to lower construction costs

• Promote modular and manufactured home construction for installation across our district

• Expand housing trust funds to build and preserve affordable housing

• Allow Accessory Dwelling Units — backyard cottages and garage apartments — in single-family neighborhoods, with tax incentives for owners who rent at below-market rates

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