Utility Bill Late Fees Are a Symptom of an Energy Cost Burden Problem

By Maurice Carter, Sustainable Newton Co-Founder & President

What do a late-night spat during a very long city council meeting, rising home energy costs, a federally-funded home energy rebate program, and a corporate-funded, non-profit community power initiative have in common?  Read on and find out.  Someone you know -- or even you -- might benefit.

Source: Science for Georgia

A heated exchange in the wee hours of a Covington City Council meeting on August 3, made local headlines and even Atlanta television newscasts.  But honestly, the tensions between the mayor and some councilmembers were understandable. The meeting ran from 6:30 PM to nearly 11 PM! That's unfortunate, though, because the topic -- reducing or eliminating late fees on City of Covington utility bills for senior citizens -- was was worth deeper discussion at a more reasonable hour.

West Ward Councilmember Anthony Henderson first proposed to change the late fee charged for past due utility bill payments from 10% of the outstanding balance to a flat fee of $10 for customers 65 years or older.  East Ward Councilmember Dwayne Turner agreed with Henderson's proposal and suggested going further to eliminate the late fee entirely for senior citizens.  Unfortunately, the conversation veered  off track from there.

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Mayor Fleeta Baggett and several councilmembers raised concerns about the complexity of implementing such a change in the city's billing system. And the mayor correctly pointed out that the city already sells electricity to residential customers at a loss. The most recent electric cost of services study performed for the City of Covington by Electric Cities of Georgia (ECG) in July 2026 showed the city's profit margin on residential customers is -13.1%.

Late Fees Are the Symptom of a Deeper Problem

Lost in the discussion was recognition that late fees aren't actually the root problem -- although charging a percentage instead of a flat fee makes it harder for someone who falls behind to catch back up.  In most cases, missed utility bill payments are a symptom of a deeper problem:  customers cannot afford their energy bills.  According to a report by the Savannah Morning News earlier this summer, electricity rates in Georgia have risen 27% over the last five years, and Consumer Affairs ranked our state as having the 8th worst summertime cooling cost burden. For City of Covington electric customers, data from the Georgia Public Service Commission shows the city's summer electric rates have increased by 24-38% (depending on the monthly kilowatt hour consumption level) over the past five years.

Rising home energy costs are tough on low or fixed-income households, like the senior citizens on Social Security that Henderson and Turner were trying to help. With home heating and cooling devouring a growing share of household budgets, the worsening problem is energy cost burden.

By US Department of Energy (DoE) standards, a household spending 6% or more of gross annual income on utility and energy bills is considered to have a high energy cost burden.  Households spending over 10% of income are labeled as severely burdened. In Newton County, according to DoE data, single-family detached households earning 100% or less of the Area Median Income (AMI) have an average energy cost burden of 12%. They are, by definition, severely burdened.

But, if the city already loses 13.1% on electricity sold to residential customers, then waiving fees or reducing rates is not the solution. Or at least it's not a sustainable solution.  Instead, we should look at how to help these households use less of the thing they're struggling to afford, which is energy.

Solutions Exist, But "It's Complicated"

The Georgia Environmental Finance Authority (GEFA) administers two federally-funded home energy rebate programs for Georgia households looking to lower energy consumption in their homes.  To date, Georgians have received a combined total of $56.3M in upfront cost savings through the HER and HEAR programs on upgrades like energy-efficient appliances, wiring panel upgrades, insulation, weatherization, air-sealing, and other improvements.

Thanks to a "Do It Yourself" path, the Home Electrification and Appliance Rebates (HEAR) are totally tapped out.  GEFA has stopped accepting applications.  The Home Energy Rebates (HER) require a more comprehensive, consultative approach to addressing home energy efficiency. The program starts with a home energy audit, and the final rebate amount is driven by a combination of energy saved and household income relative to AMI.  Because the HER program is more complicated, the uptake has been slower.  That's the bad news. The very good news is that GEFA still has $71.4M in HER program funding left to distribute to qualified households. And that could be you or someone you know.

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Save with SOUL

Enter the non-profit Groundswell, which describes itself as follows:

"Groundswell builds community power to support local  resilience and cut electricity bills in half for our neighbors who need savings  the most. We deliver community solar, resilience hubs, and residential energy  efficiency to preserve affordable housing, strengthen the grid, and support  local economic development. Founded in 2009, Groundswell joyfully serves rural,  small-town, and urban communities in the Heartland, Mid-Atlantic, and  Southeast."

Groundswell's SOUL (Save On Utilities Long-term) program combines philanthropic donations with local, state, federal, and utility-sponsored programs to provide whole-home energy efficiency and electrification upgrades at no cost to the homeowner.

This week, they launched a 24-month local program to bring SOUL to homeowners in Covington and other targeted metro Atlanta communities, saying:

"Groundswell is proud to partner with Amazon and Salesforce on the SOUL® in City of Covington and South Fulton County, Georgia Project to advance energy affordability and community resilience across Metro Atlanta. Through a generous philanthropic commitment combined with state and utility rebates, Amazon and Salesforce are funding zero-cost-to-homeowner heat pump upgrades and energy efficiency improvements for hundreds of low-income households. The project helps households improve energy efficiency and lower utility bills."

To help eligible homeowners navigate the complexities of GEFA HER rebates, Groundswell uses a portion of the funds from corporate donors to hire Community Power Navigators who work in the community.  These navigators assist applicants through every step of the process to apply for and become qualified to receive a HER rebate. The remainder of the corporate funding is then used to fill any gaps between what GEFA will cover and what the total project will cost.  Thus making the upgrades zero-cost for the homeowner.

To qualify, applicants must meet the following criteria:

1. Occupancy & Ownership: Must be an owner-occupied single-family residence.
2. Target Location: Residence must be in designated focus areas in Metro Atlanta (in our case, the city limits of Covington).
3. Income Requirement: Household income must be below 80% Area Median Income (AMI) OR qualify via verified Categorical Enrollment

​Full details are available on the program website and also the flyer. If you believe you meet the program qualifications, Groundswell is accepting pre-qualifying submissions now on the website.  But please be patient, since the SOUL program for Covington and South Fulton just launched this week.

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Amazon and Salesforce Backing Is an Encouraging Sign

Sustainable Newton is especially encouraged to see major tech companies like Amazon and Salesforce supporting this program. Readers of this blog may recall I wrote back in February about research showing data center developers can invest in residential energy efficiency and renewables as powerful, community-serving alternative to building new fossil gas power plants to meet the electricity needs of their data centers. In particular, I referenced Rewiring America's Homegrown Energy Report, which detailed how home energy investments from hyperscalers could free up substantial electricity for data centers:

Homegrown Energy: How household upgrades can meet 100 percent of data center demand growth

These investments suggest Amazon and Salesforce are seizing that opportunity and, in the process, are helping the most energy-vulnerable households in our community. And the electricity saved through home energy efficiency improvements stays in the grid to serve other customers -- including data centers. It's cleaner, cheaper, and better for everyone.

The Yale Program on Climate Change Communication (YPCCC) recently published a research note regarding US public opinion on data center development. Among their key findings, the research team found: "A large majority of Americans (73%) “strongly” or “somewhat” support a proposal requiring new data centers to offset their electricity use by installing rooftop solar on, and/or helping to weatherize and insulate nearby homes, while only 26% oppose it." 

The webinar recording below features one of the lead authors of the report, George Mason University Ph.D. candidate Neha Gour, along with Rewiring America's Vice President of Policy, Kristin Eberhard. Together they explain the dynamics that make investing in residential energy a smart move for data center developers and the communities where they are building.

This partnership between Amazon, Salesforce, Groundswell, and the communities of Covington and South Fulton is just one example of collaborations taking shape across Georgia -- which is now the most active North American market for active data center construction. Earlier this year, Google announced a partnership with Georgia Power to invest $5M in a Community Impact Fund to "support programs that expand access for families to energy-saving technologies that will lead to lower electric bills and stronger local energy systems across Georgia."  Amazon is also funding a $100M investment with the City of Covington to build an industrial water reclamation system for its Alcovy Road data center.

Coming Full-Circle Back to Energy Cost Burden

It's important to note that these residential energy efficiency programs do not involve local government or taxpayer funding.  But local leaders still play a critical role in maximizing the impact of these opportunities.  As city, county state, and local business leaders recruit economic development for our community, we should emphasize the value of partnerships that invest in households, neighborhoods, and entire communities to address pervasive issues like energy cost burden and create new opportunities for positive growth. We're excited to see Groundswell working in our community and grateful to Amazon and Salesforce for their investment in the people living here.