ENDING ALABAMA POWER'S STRANGLEHOLD ON ALABAMA FAMILIES

From the Deas for Senate campaign

BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA — Today, U.S. Senate candidate Dr. Deas issued the following statement to Alabama voters on the growing crisis of utility price gouging, unaccountable monopoly power, and the corrupt relationship between Alabama Power, its parent company Southern Company, and the politicians who take their money while families struggle to pay their electric bills.

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT TO ALABAMA VOTERS

As your U.S. Senator, I will use federal authority to challenge the cozy monopoly that lets Alabama Power keep bills high while state regulators look the other way, leaving Alabamians with some of the highest electric costs in the country and almost no real public oversight of how those rates are set. I will press FERC to aggressively police wholesale and transmission charges and affiliated deals so that every rate affecting Alabama is truly "just and reasonable" and free from fraud, market manipulation, or hidden cross‑subsidies. I will demand that the DOJ and FTC investigate any anticompetitive conduct or unfair methods of competition in our electric markets and back legislation that forces full public disclosure of utility profits, rate formulas, and political spending so no backroom deal can hide from voters again. That means siding with working families and small businesses against a protected monopoly, restoring accountability, ending price gouging, and proving that conservative leadership can clean up corruption instead of serving it.

And I will not shut up about it. I will hammer this issue on TV, on the Senate floor, and on social media, and be the constant bug in the ear of Alabama Power until prices drop. I will make it politically and publicly impossible for Alabama Power to continue on its current path without serious backlash from informed voters.

FOLLOW THE MONEY

Steve Marshall and Barry Moore, SHAME on YOU. The job of a U.S. Senator is to fight for Alabama families, not to depend on a regulated monopoly and its allies for campaign cash.

●      Steve Marshall has accepted at least $110,000 from Alabama Power's PAC alone since 2017, making the utility one of his most financially significant backers.

●      Barry Moore has taken at least $10,000 from Alabama Power–connected donors in a single federal cycle, with electric‑utility money featuring prominently across his campaign finance reports.

Alabamians deserve to know who their elected officials are actually working for.

THE SOLAR FARM AND DATA CENTER PROBLEM: RURAL ALABAMA IS BEING SACRIFICED

The abuse of Alabama's land and electric grid does not stop with rate gouging. In south Alabama, thousands of acres are being converted into utility‑scale solar farms, not to lower your power bill, but to serve massive data centers operated by corporations like Meta. The power goes north. The costs stay with you.

In December 2025, the Alabama Public Service Commission approved large solar projects in Baldwin County that will sell power to Alabama Power under long‑term contracts, with the renewable energy credits kept by Meta to serve its data center near Montgomery. Rural communities bear the land disruption and grid burden. Big Tech and Alabama Power reap the reward. That is not free‑market competition, that is corporate welfare buried in your monthly bill.

As your U.S. Senator, I will fight for the following conservative principles that protect Alabama families, landowners, and rural communities:

1. Property Rights and Fair Compensation
Landowners hosting solar farms deserve truly market‑rate leases with clear annual escalators, not pennies on the dollar negotiated by out‑of‑state developers and utility‑friendly lawyers operating behind closed doors.

2. Local Control and Transparency
Any large solar or data‑center project tied to a regulated utility must go through transparent PSC proceedings with real public notice, community hearings at convenient times, and full public release of power‑purchase terms that directly affect local rates. No more secret 25‑year deals signed in Montgomery and Atlanta.

3. No Socialized Costs for Private Gain
I will oppose any rate structure where Alabama Power rolls the enormous cost of serving billion‑dollar data centers into the bills of regular families and small businesses. Growth must pay for growth, not your grandmother on a fixed income.

THE ECONOMIC REALITY FOR RURAL ALABAMA

Utility‑scale solar development is quietly reshaping rural land markets. As out‑of‑state developers compete for large, flat tracts near transmission lines, land prices in those corridors are rising, squeezing small farmers and permanently altering communities. Lease agreements locking up hundreds of acres for 20 to 30 years can generate income for some landowners, but those same deals can displace agricultural operations and remove land from productive local use for a generation.

Meanwhile, the explosive growth of data centers is driving up system‑wide electric infrastructure costs, new generation, substations, and transmission lines, and unless those costs are carefully isolated in a dedicated rate class, every Alabama family and small business absorbs them through higher fixed charges and surcharges on their monthly bill. Alabama Power has publicly acknowledged affordability pressures and rate freezes designed to calm public anger, even as it continues approving large industrial load projects that drive future cost increases.

The formula is simple and it must stop: Big Tech gets cheap power. Alabama Power gets a guaranteed profit on the wires. Alabama families get the bill.

A DOCTOR WHO STANDS UP TO BULLIES

Alabama doesn't just need a doctor in Washington, it needs someone who will stand up to bullies. That is exactly what I teach my 5‑year‑old son in kindergarten, and it is exactly what I will do to Alabama Power and the politicians who protect them. As a cardiac surgeon and biomedical engineer, I have spent my career fighting for people's lives. In the U.S. Senate, I will fight for their wallets, their land, and their future with that same relentless determination.

A state senator cannot compel FERC to act. A state senator cannot launch a federal antitrust investigation. A state senator cannot force national disclosure of utility profits and political spending. Alabama Power and Southern Company are a federally regulated monopoly, and that fight must be taken to Washington. That is why I am running for U.S. Senate, and that is a fight I will never back down from.

Dr. Dale Deas, Jr. is a cardiac surgeon and federal whistleblower who has joined a crowded Republican primary field that includes Steve Marshall, Barry Moore, Jared Hudson, Morgan Murphy, Rodney Walker and Seth Burton in a bid to become Alabama’s next U.S. Senator. The Republican primary is scheduled for May 19.

For more information, follow Dr. Deas’ campaign on Facebook.