By Mark Woolsey

Democratic voters have decided which candidate will face incumbent Republican Public Service Commissioner Fitz Johnson in the November general election.

Final unofficial statewide totals in the Special Primary Public Service Commission Special Election statewide runoff Tuesday showed energy advocacy group head and consultant Peter Hubbard capturing 58.18 percent of the vote, racking up 66,084 votes statewide while former state representative and Atlanta City Council member Keisha Sean Waites pulled 41.82 percent, tallying 47,501 votes.

 In Cobb County, Hubbard won even more handily, with 63.03 percent of the vote, or 6.400 votes to Waites’ 36.97 percent, or 3,754 votes.

Cobb County Elections and Voter Registration officials report that 10,162 ballots were cast in the county, representing a 2 percent turnout among registered voters. Turnout statewide was approximately 1 percent.

The runoff became necessary when neither candidate racked up 50 percent of the vote in the June 17 special primary.

 Hubbard told the Courier in an emailed statement that he was grateful for the victory and said the coming Nov. 4 election “matters to all Georgians because power bills are skyrocketing, no one is holding the current Republican PSC accountable, and voters have the power to change that.”

He called himself and fellow Democratic nominee Alicia Johnson (in the district 2 race) the best candidates for the PSC in November, saying both come with experience and plans to fight for seniors, low-income households, and all those deserving lower power bills.

District 3 encompasses Fulton, DeKalb and Clayton counties. While that district doesn’t include Cobb, voters statewide cast ballots for candidates from all districts under the current system.

Hubbard’s bio lists ten years of work as an energy consultant as well as a developer of solar energy and storage projects in Texas, Louisiana, and elsewhere. He also founded the nonprofit  Georgia Center for Energy Solutions, whose stated goals are to fight for lower power bills and increased clean energy usage.

District 3 GOP incumbent Fitz Johnson is chairman of the PSC’s energy committee. He’s also listed as a businessman and Army veteran who has vast experience building and leading both for-profit companies and non-profits. In 2023, he was tapped to chair a national committee on natural gas resource planning.

While generally lower profile in nature, the Public Service Commission serves the significant functions of regulating utility rates, deciding on requested rate increases and services provided by natural gas and energy producers. It also has jurisdiction over pipeline safety matters and intrastate investor-owned telecommunications entities, according to the agency’s website.

It also approves plans and weighs in on how utilities will meet electricity and service demands on a longer-term basis.

Those functions can and do result in consumers being hit in the pocketbook.