This appeal arises from a decision of the Georgia Public Service Commission “PSC” to reduce the amount of municipal franchise fees the Georgia Power Company may recover from its rate base from four percent of usage revenue to two percent of that revenue. A number of Georgia municipalities, the Georgia Municipal Association “GMA”, and some Georgia Power customers collectively, “the appellants” brought a petition for judicial review and declaratory relief in the Superior Court of Fulton County, which affirmed the PSC’s decision. The appellants now contend that the PSC’s decision was arbitrary and not supported by any evidence. We affirm. Under OCGA § 50-13-19 g, a superior court’s review of an administrative proceeding “shall be conducted by the court without a jury and shall be confined to the record.” OCGA § 50-13-19 h provides that “the court shall not substitute its judgment for that of the agency as to the weight of the evidence on questions of fact,” and that the court may “reverse or modify” the administrative decision if, inter alia, “substantial rights of the appellant have been prejudiced because the administrative findings, inferences, conclusions, or decisions are . . . arbitrary or capricious or characterized by abuse of discretion or clearly unwarranted exercise of discretion.” OCGA § 50-13-19 h 6. “When this Court reviews a superior court’s order in an administrative proceeding, our duty is not to review whether the record supports the superior court’s decision but whether the record supports the final decision of the administrative agency.” Citations and punctuation omitted. Ga. Peace Officers Stds. & Training Council v. Anderson , 290 Ga. App. 91 658 SE2d 840 2008. We will affirm “if ‘any evidence’ on the record substantiates the administrative agency’s findings of fact and conclusions of law.” Prof. Standards Comm. v. Alberson , 273 Ga. App. 1, 4-5 1 614 SE2d 132 2005.
So viewed, the record shows that hundreds of Georgia municipalities have longstanding contracts with Georgia Power under which Georgia Power pays a municipal “franchise fee” in exchange for access to municipal roads and rights-of-way. Under a rate schedule for this local tariff, Schedule “LT,” the PSC permits Georgia Power to include the franchise fee it pays to a municipality in its system-wide rate base so long as Georgia Power has received a franchise to operate in that municipality for 35 years and so long as the franchise fee does not exceed 4 percent of city usage revenue for the preceding year.1 The effect of Schedule “LT” is that Georgia Power’s customers residing in unincorporated areas bear some portion of the costs of reimbursing Georgia Power for its expense in gaining access to city streets and rights-of-way.
