ATLANTA - Two of Georgia's most prominent tea-party groups have come down on opposite sides in the debate over requiring Georgia Power to use a set amount of solar energy.

The Public Service Commission votes Thursday on the company's 20-year plan, and one commissioner had said he'll propose a doubling of the roughly 250 megawatts of solar power the utility has planned. That vote is the rallying point for the activists in both groups, the Tea Party Patriots and Americans for Prosperity.

Debbie Dooley, national coordinator of the Patriots, was one of dozens of people testifying during a multi-month commission hearing on the plan. She favors increased use of solar, in particular a request by the start-up Georgia Solar Utilities.

The newcomer wants a contract to supply all of Georgia Power's solar energy and has offered to rebate its profits to individual customers.

"What we're looking at is a plan that guarantees there would be no upward pressure on rates," she said.

However, Americans for Prosperity recently emailed its 50,000 Georgia members urging them to oppose requiring more solar, noting energy bills might go up by 40 percent.

Virginia Galloway, AFP state director and one of the earliest organizers of the anti-tax rallies in 2009 that spawned the tea-party movement, says renewable-energy mandates in other states led to 40-percent higher electricity costs.

"It's like saying you have to buy groceries this week and you have to buy a certain amount from Whole Foods ... and I can get everything at Publix less expensively," she said.

Disagreement between the two groups isn't unusual. Dooley says Galloway is using outdated figures since solar-panel prices have dropped by more than half in the last three years. She also accuses Galloway of being swayed by the fossil-fuel interests that contribute to AFP nationally.

Galloway counters that she doesn't know the concerns of 100,000 donors and that no one with the national organization instructed which stance she should take. Instead, she said she made up her own mind recently and that since has gotten support from conservatives who wanted someone to publicly oppose a solar requirement.

The commissioners haven't said how they'll vote on McDonald's proposal, but Commissioner Tim Echols released a letter he wrote to an AFP member expressing reluctance to follow Germany's policy of financial incentives to install solar panels, which isn't part of McDonald's concept.

"This national energy policy has flipped traditional energy regulation on its head, and brings with it many new challenges," he said. "It may work in Germany, but I have my doubts about America."
