For More Information: Don Moreland, Admin@GaSolar.org, c-703-475-3228 Atlanta, GA – New testimony filed by the Georgia Solar Energy Association shows that expanding a solar program managed by Georgia Power to just 3% of customers would create 2,422 new jobs and help customers reduce electricity bills by over $75 million per year through energy savings and grid-efficiency improvements. Georgia Power’s monthly-netting pilot program which provides credits to homes and businesses for the solar energy they push back onto the grid, was capped to just 5,000 customers by the Public Service Commission in 2019. The program became over-subscribed within two-years, and added more customer-owned solar energy in Georgia than the previous 20-years combined. The solar energy industry currently employs 5,341 Georgians. Georgia Solar Energy Association’s testimony, authored with support from Greenlink Analytics, indicates that an expansion of the pilot program to 80,000 customers will add another 1,477 jobs directly to the State’s solar industry and 945 indirect jobs. In polling released earlier this year , 80% of all Georgians supported the expansion of the monthly netting program. As a part of Georgia Power’s rate-case filing, the company seeks to prohibit the addition of new customers into the monthly-netting program, to charge customers a new $200 fee to add solar energy systems to their homes and businesses, and to increase utility rates by 12% over the next two years. “The evidence is clear that Georgians want more clean energy, and that clean energy is good for all Georgians,” said Don Moreland, Executive Director of the Georgia Solar Energy Association. “Georgia Solar is urging the commission to restore the monthly netting program without a cap for the next three years to allow Georgia customers to be fairly compensated for the benefit they provide to the grid” Monthly netting is a basic utility policy that has helped neighboring states like North and South Carolina allow more customer-owned solar energy systems. Public proceedings in the Rate Case continue on November 28th with a decision expected from the Commission on December 20th. Read Georgia Solar’s full testimony here