Georgia Power to argue new long-term plan to PSC after Legislature stalls consumer-friendly bills

by Stanley Dunlap, Georgia Recorder
March 17, 2025

The Georgia Public Service Commission is scheduled to begin hearing testimony later this month from Georgia Power officials about how the state’s largest utility plans to spend billions of dollars to meet its skyrocketing energy demand, primarily due to the projected growth of large data centers supporting artificial intelligence. 

State regulators have set aside multiple days for hearings on Georgia Power’s long-term 2025 Integrated Resource Plan. Company officials estimate that 80% of its projected increased energy demand over the next decade is tied to expected new data centers growth in the state. 

Georgia Power is projecting electrical load growth will increase by 8,200 megawatts by 2030, representing an increase of 2,200 megawatts compared to its forecast in the 2023 Integrated Resource Plan update. One megawatt can power about 600 homes.

The latest demonstration of the growing interest from prospective data center companies emerged last week with an application filed with the Georgia Department of Community Affairs for a massive data center in Troup County.

The Project West proposal is for a 513-acre data center campus comprising six industrial buildings totaling 1.5 million square feet. The centers house computer servers and typically require a large supply of electricity to run.

“Georgia’s economy is continuing to grow, which increases the need for electricity in businesses and factories,” a panel of Georgia Power executives said in March 10 testimony filed with the PSC. “The state’s population is also growing, leading to more electricity use in homes. The rise in large commercial and industrial customers, such as data centers and manufacturing plants, is contributing to the new demand. Also, the adoption of electric vehicles, both for personal and business use, is steadily driving up electricity consumption.”

Georgia Power regularly updates every three years its Integrated Resource Plan, which is the company’s 20-year comprehensive plan for meeting the needs of current and future customers. The hearings on the latest plan will being March 25. 

Georgia lawmakers, clean energy and consumer advocacy groups are concerned about state regulators signing off on Georgia Power’s repeated utility bill increases as the investor-owned utility has passed along to ratepayers new electricity base rates, overrun costs associated with building two new Vogtle nuclear power plant units, coal ash cleanup and other expenses.

All told, the average Georgia Power household is paying about $43 more per month on utility bills since the start of 2020. Georgia Power is the largest supplier of electricity in the state, with about 2.7 million customers.

A pair of major cases will be settled by the five elected members of the state regulatory commission this year, which will affect Georgia Power ratepayers’ pocketbooks as well as determine the mix of fossil fuels and renewable energy sources the company will use to generate electricity for the next few years.

During PSC proceedings, environmental organizations, consumer protection nonprofits, manufacturers, and other groups offer expert testimony and perform cross examinations of witnesses.

Earlier this month, Georgia legislation intended to protect residential consumers from rising utility costs associated with data centers failed to advance out of the House and Senate chambers ahead of the critical March 6 Crossover Day deadline. 

State senator pushes bill to protect Georgia Power customers from rate hikes fueled by data centers

The full Senate did not hold a chamber floor vote on two bills sponsored by Sen. Chuck Hufstetler, a Rome Republican who says rising utility and property tax bills are the two most common complaints he hears from Georgians. 

Hufstetler said Saturday that a data center amendment likely doomed the passage of his Senate Bill 94, which would re-establish a utility consumer advocacy office that provides legal and financial resources for residential consumers and small businesses in electric rate cases and other utility matters. 

Hufstetler said he was unable to get a full Senate vote on his consumer utility counsel bill despite having 45 out of 56 senators’ support for his amendment to prevent utility companies from passing data center costs along to residential and small business customers, who have been handed six rate increases since the beginning of 2022. 

He said he plans to continue to advocate in future sessions for his bill to re-establish the consumer utility counsel that was abolished in statewide budget cuts mandated by Gov. Sonny Perdue during the 2008 recession. 

In the absence of the counsel, consumers depend on the PSC staff to represent ratepayer interests.

Hufstetler criticized Georgia Power for overbuilding in a way that allows the company’s shareholders to maximize profits and called for the commission to hold the company accountable for rising costs. 

“I did say I’ll pull the amendment if that’ll get the utility counsel but then it ran out of time so it didn’t happen,” Hufstetler said. “I’m certainly disappointed that with the majority of the senators wanting this bill that wasn’t allowed to be on the Senate floor and get passed. 

“On the other hand, we had numerous statements from both the PSC and Georgia Power that they would not pass on any of these costs to the residential and small business customers,” Hufstetler said. “At the same time, they didn’t like my bill, which said exactly that, but I think we can certainly hold them accountable for their numerous statements that they would not pass down this cost.” 

Representatives with Georgia Power and the Data Center Coalition said they opposed Senate Bill 34 because it would give the state Legislature control over a ratemaking process that is typically handled by the elected five-member PSC. 

They argued that new rules that apply to data center adopted by the PSC are sufficient to prevent residential and commercial customers from getting stuck with costs incurred to serve data centers.  

The new rules include a provision allowing Georgia Power to require data center companies to put up front-end collateral for energy costs over the lifetime of the contract. If the company abandons the project prior to the contract expiring, then Georgia Power would keep the remaining money owed.

Another utility-related bill that failed to advance by the Legislature’s Crossover Day deadline was Woodstock Republican Rep. Jordan Ridley’s House Bill 446, which would have granted discovery rights to all parties at PSC hearings, giving stakeholders new authority to request information during electric rate cases and other utility proceedings. 

Allison Kvien, Vote Solar’s Southeast regulatory director, criticized Georgia lawmakers who failed to increase transparency at a time when many people are struggling to pay higher energy bills.

“HB 446 would have allowed all stakeholders to better advocate for policies that encourage economic development and access to affordable, clean energy in commission proceedings” Kvien said. “Georgia Power shouldn’t be the only one with a seat at the table – Georgia households and businesses deserve to give informed input into decisions about their energy future.” 

Georgia Recorder is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Georgia Recorder maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor John McCosh for questions: info@georgiarecorder.com.

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