Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Aldeer General Forum Alabama Power

I know that in the last 20 years the power companies have had to spend enormous amounts of money on air pollution control systems. Those systems have doubled, tripled and quadrupled the size of most existing power plants. None of those pollution control systems have increased power production. In fact they take power in the form of station service from each plants production. All of those systems cost billions of dollars to design and build. Once they are built they cost millions to operate and maintain.

I know this because I designed them, built them and maintained them.

Go look at an ariel photo past and present of a plant like Plant Bowen over between Rome and Cartersville, Georgia. You will see a plant that has at least tripled in size, and none of those building projects has increased power production, all of them have reduced power production. It is astonishing the hoops that the government that we elected has put the power companies through.

Combine that with increased cost of fuel and those reasons are why energy prices have risen over the years.

Southern Company just recently finished building the first new nuclear reactors since the Three Mile Island accident in 1979. All the engineers that designed nuclear power plants had long since retired or died, so the power company had to basically start from scratch. Not only that but the government regulations on building something like that were astronomical. Due to those handicaps, there were tons of delays and cost overruns. They were basically build something that no one working on the project had ever done before.

All that said, I'm not here to defend the power company. I spent my career, designing, building, inspecting and maintaining power plants. What I'm doing is simply telling the facts of the story that no one but people who have worked in the industry understand.

I understand that none of that will make anyone feel any better about their power bill doubling.

How much has the price of groceries or a new truck gone up in the last 20 years and why have those costs gone up?

"State house has already removed it"


The Bill is still, very much alive. It was only removed from that day's agenda, so it can be put on another day's agenda and brought back up for a vote. And it may be, once the public attention dies down.

They hope you don't look here........."small town" sheriff from Cullman decides to run for PSC Commissioner. Hmmm, takes a $million+ just to launch a state-wide campaign. Wonder how he manages that? Now, in the new bill, the Senate President Pro Tempore is one of the positions that can appoint someone to the PSC. Who is Senate President Pro Tempore? Oh it's Garlan Gudger, from Cullman. It gets better, Cullman Electric Co-op is restructuring their billing systems, adding head count, separate the water department billing, eliminate 3rd party billing system. Why would you do that? That is less efficient and more expensive. Oh but they need to increase the expense line, to justify raising the rates. Create an expense that is entirely controlled in-house, and can be a very "muddy" line on the books. All crooks, all need to be fired and can go find a real job. Especially Gudger.


Irish, you are waaay too smart of a guy to go there. This is a political move for APCO-Southern and the rest, to take full control. And you know it stinks.

Dang I get mad if mine goes over $250. That’s 2200 sq ft home with kid still at home.😳

No one knows how much ‘alive’ it is. I just read the news.

https://www.al.com/politics/2026/02...-is-suddenly-delayed.html?outputType=amp

I don't know about the politics of it all. I try not to worry about things I can't control. All I can do about the politics of it is complain about it on an open forum. I was just trying to help and explain the infrastructure and cost of doing business.

I’ve got Opelika Power.
The house is 2,000sqft built in 1978 single story and the worse the power bill has been is $180.

Hearing about people having $500-700 power bills is absolutely nuts.

I agree; don't get that. I just checked my APCO bills average for last 3 years; 2023/$313, 2024/$298, 2025/$314.
Two people in a 3800 sq' house with 3 old HVAC units.

I get trailers aren’t the most insulated but this is nuts

Just alabama power customers. Not black warrior and the other provider for prattville area. And how can they charge different rates depending on the time if day? They are crooks

Power is power. Other alabama providers of power are much cheaper. Its just alabama power that has increased their rates to the point of unreasonable and excessive

I routinely receive $350-$500 power bills in a 1700sq ft house built in 1992 with an HVAC unit of the same age.

I still have the old electric heat strips that we run during the winter time. That would explain the sky high bill for months like January. But I turn the damn thing off for several days at a time in October, November, Feb, March and its still sky high

Now i know how the biologists feel..nope

I have APCO service at my farm.
Since I rarely use any power there, above the minimum, my bill is always the same.
In the last year, my bill has increased 13%.

The answer is that they went onto strip resistance heaters during that run of cold weather. Or were using multiple resistance space heaters throughout the trailer. Recipe for an insane power bill. You can’t let your heat pump use strip heaters for very long at all without dire power bill consequences.

That sounds pretty normal to me.

Our worst power bill we've ever had up on Lookout Mountain for the two of us has been about $200. Normally in the $120 to $150 range in the summer.

I agree; 3 years is as far back as my Quicken app takes me , but have not experienced any major increases over that time. The range is probably +/- 30% of the average per month based on seasonal weather. .Expect it will go down some when we replace the old units.

Our utility is supplied by PowerSouth. My bill has never been over $400. That’s 3,000 sq ft and 3 kids that don’t understand the concept of light switches. I will say our house is well insulated and the AC is never set below 72 and heat never above 70.

I can’t imagine a $1,000 a month bill unless you are trying to cool to 65 during the summer.

My power bill has been astronomical the last 2 years.. Alabama power knows it has us by the balls.

Drive by the Alabama Power Headquarters downtown Birmingham. Look at the MASSIVE facelift/remodel job they are doing. They have to pay for it somehow. (Sarcasm intended). Just so you know, it’s not building repairs being done. It’s just cosmetic. It’s definitely a bad look on their part.

One of the facebook pages I'm not following, someone posted about Alabama Power starting an add campaign to soften people up. I saw my first one today. Added a comment "Thieves"