"ATLANTA -- The Southern Co. makes billion-dollar decisions that affect millions of people in Georgia, yet it has attracted little political scrutiny — until now. Leaders of the Atlanta Tea Party are challenging Southern Co. subsidiary Georgia Power over the monopoly's reluctance to increase its use of solar power, the ballooning costs of building a new nuclear power plant and even its legal right to monopoly status."

"The group's action in Georgia seems relatively rare among the loosely linked tea party organizations nationally.

Other tea party groups have condemned the adoption of "smart" utility meters — which transmit information about customer usage — due to concerns that they would intrude on customers' privacy, or have broadly backed less reliance on foreign energy. But relatively few have endorsed so specific an energy platform in their own backyards, much less promised to campaign on it."

Ray Henry reports for the Associated Press June 2, 2013. [2]