Candidate Profile: Patty Durand Public Service Commission District 2

GEORGIA— Three candidates qualified for the Georgia Public Service Commission Eastern District 2 seat in the May 24 General Primary/Special Election.

Patty Durand, of Conyers, is running against incumbent Tim Echols who's seeking his third six-year term on the commission. Russell Edwards, a Democrat, announced in April that he was suspending his campaign, but “proud” to throw his support behind his opponent in the primary, Durand, reported the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. District 2 encompasses most of Eastern Georgia.

The Public Service Commission decides where much of the energy used in Georgia comes from and how much customers pay for it. They also regulate Georgia Power for residential and commercial customers.

May 24, 2022 General Primary/Special Election sample ballots are available for review at the Georgia My Voter Page. Enter your information in order to access a personalized sample ballot.

Patch asked candidates to answer questions about their campaigns and will be publishing candidate profiles as Election Day draws near.

Name

Patty Durand

Campaign website

https://pattyforpsc.com

City or town of residence

Conyers

Office sought

Ga Public Service Commission District 2

Party affiliation

Democrat

Education

MBA, College of Wm & Mary

Occupation

Nonprofit director, 15 years

Family

Not relevant

Does anyone in your family work in politics or government?

No

Age

Not relevant

Previous public office, appointive or elective

No

Why are you seeking this office?

Georgia’s Public Service Commission is responsible for regulating electricity, natural gas, and telecommunications. In every area the current commissioners have failed Georgians, shoveling massive profits to gas and electric utilities no matter how poor the service, and doing little to engage in the clean energy transition underway across the world or help people with bill affordability. Instead of caring about climate change, incumbent commissioners allow Ga Power to choke off rooftop solar with arbitrary net-metering caps and brag about how business friendly they are. Instead of caring about people and adopting money savings programs, they authorize Georgia Power to overbuild power plant capacity, resulting in Georgia energy bills ranking 8th highest in the U.S.

I am running for this office because I have a 14 year background in energy and environmental advocacy and have a front row seat on what other state commissioners and other utilities are doing across the country to help people and participate in the clean energy transition. I want to bring grid modernization policies and programs to Georgia allowing our ranking to fall to where it should be based on national cost-of-living rankings (about 25th place). I will prohibit overbuilding and adopt advanced software such as DERMS (distributed energy management systems) and VPP (virtual power plants) where energy is deployed quickly and efficiently throughout the grid saving money and which is common elsewhere; I will adopt advanced demand response and energy efficiency programs and investments that are missing here (leading to extreme profit taking from the utility) and are common elsewhere; I will require bill and data transparency, which are missing; I will prohibit redactions and trade secret labels which prevent public accountability and which do not exist in other states; I will prohibit ex parte communications in which utility lobbyists speak privately with commissioners during utility proceedings before the commission and which are prohibited in 49 other states; and I will encourage consumer engagement around rooftop solar, electric vehicles, smart connected energy efficient homes and all things related to the information era that enables consumer choice, most of which is missing in Georgia.

Please complete this statement: The single most pressing issue facing my constituents is ___, and this is what I intend to do about it.

High power bills; use grid modernization techniques to reduce grid costs, and require Ga Power to earn a fair profit similar to other utilities of their size instead of the outsized profits the current commission allows.

What are the major differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post?

My primary opponent has suspended his campaign and endorsed me; the incumbent has a horrible record and needs to lose his seat.

If you are challenging an incumbent, in what way has the current officeholder failed the community?

My opponent has never seen a rate increase he didn't love. Georgians pay the 8th highest power bills in the nation. My opponent put a low cap on rooftop solar programs and now that market is cratered. My opponent allows Ga Power to build the most expensive power plant ever built on earth. He should lose his seat for that reason alone. Once Plant Vogtle comes online, Georgia's power bills will be the highest in the country.

What other issues do you intend to address during your campaign?

The Ga PSC needs to do more for equity and environmental justice and needs to spend more on energy efficiency. The Ga PSC needs to do much more to address climate change. I will bring the best of those programs in other states to Georgia.

What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?

My record is extensive, from serving on the Forsyth County Tree Protection committee, to co-founding a Sierra Club group called the Forsyth Forest Conservation Group, to working at the Sandy Springs Conservancy to expand greenspace and build Morgan Falls Park, to my work as state director of the Ga Chapter of the Sierra Club from 2005 – 2009 where I focused on recruiting talent and building the effectiveness of conservation committee with Alan Toney and Kevin Doyle as chairs; the Stop I-3 and Coastal committees; and the Outings committee. I was also active on climate change working on energy policy before the Ga PSC advocating for renewables. I’m proudest of my work stopping the permitting and construction of a new merchant coal fired power plant in Blakely County, Georgia. We used direct action tactics as well as a lawsuit in which I represented Sierra Club membership in state court. We lost the lawsuit but the direct action work took down the phone system of the financing entity that resulted in meetings and withdrawal of financing. If not for this work LS Power would have a coal plant operating in SW Georgia emitting tens of thousands of pounds of CO2 annually since 2010.

From there I transitioned to grid modernization work with a goal of accelerating renewable energy on the grid to address climate change. I worked at Ga Tech for a year learning about the smart grid, and from there became President of the Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative, a national nonprofit focused on consumer education and research related to energy, climate change, and grid modernization. I worked in that position from 2011 – 2021 until I stepped down to run for office.

What is the best advice anyone ever gave you?

Trust your instincts.

Is there anything else you would like voters to know about yourself and your positions?