(The Center Square) – Georgia Power and the Public Service Commission sparred over the utility’s assumptions about future materialization rates for data centers and cryptocurrency operations at a hearing Tuesday.

The Public Service Commission is holding hearings on Georgia Power’s Integrated Resource Plan. The company is predicting a risk-adjusted load forecast of 8,200 megawatts from the winter of 2024-25 to the winter of 2030-31, which is 2,200 more than the 2023 projections, according to its plan released in January.

The load could grow by as much as 6,000 megawatts as early as 2028-29, the company said. Part of the reason is new data centers that are eyeing the Peach State. 

The Public Service Commission staff questioned the projections.

“We conclude that the forecast provided by Georgia Power is very likely skewed to show load realization sooner, and in greater quantities than is likely to materialize,” said Robert Trokey, director of the electric unit for the Georgia Public Service Commission.

Georgia Power claims the reasons behind their predictions are “trade secrets” because the potential new customers are still considering Georgia.

Commissioner Tricia Pridemore asked why the staff believes the projects are not going to materialize.

“I hear this sort of like clamor, clatter, I’ve heard it a lot, more than I have since January, but that this isn’t real, this isn’t going to materialize…when the reality is absolutely not,” Pridemore said. “In the states that have decided, and the state’s commissions and the commission’s staff that have decided to live in this realistically, Texas, Virginia, they’re not sending out the market signals that they don’t believe it’s real.”

“To be clear, we are not suggesting that there shouldn’t be growth or that Georgia Power won’t experience growth from data centers,” Trokey said. “Certainly, there is a phenomenon that is occurring. I don’t have the number in front of me, but there’s more than a handful of projects; there are dozens and dozens of projects, probably in the hundreds, throughout the country. In that process, we do know that they are looking at multiple locations in Georgia and outside of Georgia and that’s part of the analysis they have performed. We’ve seen some, even local counties that have decided to put a pause on for a certain point in time…

“Ninety days to get contractual work,” Pridemore said, interrupting Trokey. Some counties have issued moratoriums on data center projects. Coweta County commissioners agreed to a 180-day moratorium in May, and Douglas County agreed to a 90-day one in March, according to Government Technology.

Georgia has more than 50 data centers, according to the Georgia Department of Economic Development. 

The Public Service Commission hearings on Georgia Power’s plan will continue this week with a vote scheduled for July 15.