MACON, Ga. — It's never a surprise when your energy bill goes up during the summer. At this point, you may know some tips to combat the price.
Energy companies suggest increasing your A/C a few degrees, or not running your washer and dryer at certain times of the day. However, for many Macon families, some of those tips just aren't cutting their bills enough.
"It's hot, but I came from Texas, so it's not comparable," Jennifer Morton said.
Although she is used to the heat, she said she still looks for ways to cool off from the Georgia sun at an affordable rate.
"We run our fans, we don't do rugs. I have thermal curtains in my house," she said.
Plus she says she automatically regulates her temperature, which keeps her bill under $500 each month.
"I have no preparation for the bill that we actually were receiving," Morton said.
She said her most recent bill cost $1,200. Many people on Facebook told us that their bills doubled too. Most people shared their spending between $600 to $1,300.
"We went through a couple power outages, so for me, I couldn't figure out anything that would justify that," Morton said.
She says she called Georgia Power to ask a representative about the bill. She said in the middle of the conversation, she was sent to an automated message.
We reached out to Georgia Power ourselves.
"We're feeling it and we understand. This is one of the hottest summers (in years), so we're really empathetic to our customers," the Georgia Power spokesperson, Amanda Arnold said.
Morton says she thinks the one unusually high summer bill should be removed from that budget billing total cost.
"Don't factor that bill in, because you see it's completely different from the other bills," Morton said.
She blames the high-priced bills on customers' increased energy usage.
"Even if you don't touch your thermostat at all, it's still 100 degrees outside. Your air conditioning unit is still pumping really hard to try to cool off," Arnold said.
She says this also impacts people who are on the budget billing plan.
"It's going to average out throughout the twelve months, so hopefully you're seeing the middle rate," Arnold said.
Tim Echols with the Public Service Commission says we're also paying for the cost of sending natural gas to Europe, as many Georgia plants run on natural gas.
Echols says the average customer's bill has gone up $20 per month due to the gas spike caused by European countries boycotting Russian gas.
"The US exported natural gas to assist (European countries)," Echols said. "Our prices rose substantially as a result, impacting our ratepayers. Fortunately, increase will roll off through bill in about two years lowering bills in 2026.”
He says it is necessary to have a reliable and well-working system.
"We do want them able to provide reliable service to everyone and we want as few outages on this grid as possible," Echols said.
Morton said she can pay this month's bill, but she's thinking of how it affects everyone else.
"I wouldn't want to have to decide between feeding my family or paying my mortgage to pay a power-bill," Echols said.
She wonders what will happen with the rest of the summer bills, and when people will get real relief.
Georgia Power says they are getting calls. Echols says if you are experiencing long wait times to reach out to him by email at tim@timechols.com.
The company urges you to check your monthly usage through the website.
To help relieve some customers financially, Georgia Power has an assistance program. The program is designed for people with limited incomes.
Eligible customers can get a monthly discount of $33.50 on their power bill.
To qualify, you must meet income qualification requirements or receive Social Security disability insurance or supplemental security income. You can also qualify if you participate in the housing federal voucher program.