URE customers lauded by PSC Commissioner
PSC member touts alternative fuels
Charles Oliver
charlesoliver@daltoncitizen.com
Tim Echols, a member of Georgia’s Public Service Commission (PSC), lauded several Dalton companies Monday for their push to use more solar power.
The PSC regulates state utilities, and Echols told the Kiwanis Club of Dalton that the state could face an electricity shortage over the next few years because utilities will be closing down some coal-fired plants because they will be too expensive to run under new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rules.
“The EPA is coming down on utilities with an iron fist,” he said.
That means that companies and homeowners who can meet some of their own electricity needs by installing solar power can help ease that shortage.
Echols lauded U.S. Floors for its new Dalton plant. He said the solar array on that building is the largest rooftop solar power system in the state. He also lauded the solar facility on Dalton Utilities’ land application system site.
Echols said the growing cost of energy is a major concern for the state’s manufacturers. The PSC earlier this month urged the General Assembly to remove the sales tax on energy used in manufacturing to keep the state competitive with neighboring states that don’t charge such a tax.