The Public Service Commission voted Friday to approve Georgia Power’s historic power fleet expansion to serve data centers, a move the company says will help keep rates lower for now but that carries risk for other customers and the climate, critics say.
Georgia Power says the new power plants will help the state maintain its economic recruitment momentum. But consumer and environmental groups had urged the commission to reject the plan and approve fewer power resources, arguing they needed more assurance that residential customers won’t be saddled with higher bills in the years to come.
After an hourslong session Friday that grew tense at times, the plan was approved unanimously by the five members of the PSC, all Republicans.
The final vote was briefly interrupted by protesters chanting “Hey, hey, hey … the people say ‘Nay,’” who were swiftly escorted out of the hearing room by Georgia State Patrol officers.
The PSC’s decision clears Georgia Power to invest at least $16 billion to build new power resources, including new gas-burning units with a life span of at least 45 years.
Credit: Ben Gray for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Credit: Ben Gray for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
That $16 billion does not include the cost of electricity supplies the company will buy from third party-owned power plants. With those contracts — plus the cost of infrastructure needed to tie new power plants into the grid — some groups say the expansion’s ultimate price tag could be more like $50 billion to $60 billion.
The approved plan mirrors a preliminary agreement reached last week between Georgia Power and the PSC’s public interest advocacy staff. That deal was unveiled minutes before hearings on the company’s plan were set to begin, much to the chagrin of some consumer protection and environmental groups there to dissect it.
The scale of the expansion Georgia Power is now set to undertake is unprecedented in state history.
The total generation capacity the utility is set to add, 9,885 megawatts, is more than double the combined output of the four nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle near Augusta. It plans to add all of that in just five years.
The expansion includes construction of new gas-burning units at Plant Bowen near Cartersville, Plant Wansley outside Newnan and Plant McIntosh near the Georgia-South Carolina border.
Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez
Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez
Friday’s vote to “certify” the new power resources allows the utility to start construction and charge customers down the road.
Georgia Power has repeatedly insisted the new generation muscle is needed to meet the voracious power needs of data centers flocking to the Peach State.
Jeffrey Grubb, Georgia Power’s director of resource planning, testified last week that the utility now has signed contracts with data centers representing 7,900 megawatts of demand.
“The company is confident that this momentum will continue,” Grubb said.
‘No guarantee’
In exchange for approving the expansion, the PSC’s order requires that Georgia Power craft its next slate of new rates — set to be proposed in 2028 — to put at least $8.50 in “downward pressure” on residential customers’ monthly bills.
“Downward pressure,” however, doesn’t mean a rate cut or a bill credit is coming. In this case, it means the company has pledged to ensure its new rates for a typical residential customer are $8.50 lower than they otherwise would have been.
Georgia Power has said it will use the revenue it expects to rake in from data centers to keep other customer rates in check.
Rob Trokey, the director of the PSC’s electric unit, testified last week that if data center revenue does not show up, then Georgia Power will be the “backstop for those customers.”
But any financial relief for residential ratepayers, who have faced sharply rising bills in recent years, could be short-lived — a point PSC staff conceded during last week’s hearing.
The $8.50 in “downward pressure” is the estimated impact for a customer who uses 1,000 kilowatt-hours a month, considered “average” for a household. But many residences use more electricity than that, so any bill relief they see may not be as significant.
“There’s no guarantee that bills will go down,” Trokey said.
New rates that could reflect the “downward pressure” won’t be set until 2028 because the PSC decided this summer to keep current rates steady for three more years. The PSC-approved agreement also requires the company use the data center revenue to tamp down rates by $8.50 only between the years of 2029 and 2031.
On Friday, PSC Chairman Jason Shaw asked staff attorney Chris Collado if Georgia Power, under the agreement, bears financial risk if data center demand doesn’t pan out.
“It does — until 2031,” he said.
Beyond that, Collado conceded that residential bill impacts are murky, but said the agreement gives the PSC leeway if not all the power plants are needed.
This week, two nonprofit groups — the Southface Energy Institute and Georgia Interfaith Power and Light — asked the PSC to hold another hearing to “provide clarity” on the financial ramifications for residential customers. Those customers have seen their bills balloon over the past three years, the result of six rate increases approved by members of the commission.
The petition, filed on behalf of the groups by the Southern Environmental Law Center, said the parties met last week with Georgia Power seeking more information, but “left with serious concerns about … the strength and scope of financial promises.”
SELC attorney Jennifer Whitfield argued the commission should require that the utility “show their work.”
In its filed response, Georgia Power called the petition a “last-ditch attempt” to upend the deal and urged the commission to reject the request.
On Friday, Shaw agreed to consider whether the groups could view certain Georgia Power financial information under a confidentiality agreement, but rejected their petition to hold another hearing.
The mix of resources chosen for Georgia Power’s expansion also carries risk for the global climate.
Roughly 60% of the new electricity will come from gas-burning power plants, which release potent greenhouse gases that are warming the planet. The rest will come from battery storage systems and some solar.
In earlier hearings, students, doctors and other constituents had asked the PSC to reject the new fossil fuel resources and push the utility to invest more in renewables.
Those pleas continued Friday. For roughly 90 minutes, Georgians across the state voiced mostly concern during a public-comment session that was heated at times.
Energy affordability politics
Even after the final vote, energy affordability and data center issues will likely remain front and center at the PSC and beyond in 2026.
Friday’s vote on Georgia Power’s monumental request was likely the last one, at least for now, for Commissioners Fitz Johnson and Tim Echols. The Republican incumbents were toppled in elections last month by Democratic challengers Alicia Johnson and Peter Hubbard in races that focused squarely on customers’ frustration over their rising power bills.
Johnson and Hubbard will take their seats on the commission Jan. 1 as the first Democrats in years to join the Republican-dominated body.
Next year, two PSC seats will once again be up for grabs. Hubbard, who was elected for an unusual one-year term, will have to seek reelection, along with Commissioner Tricia Pridemore, who has served on the PSC since 2018.
But unlike in 2025, other major statewide offices — including governor, U.S. Senate and House of Representatives — will be on ballots next year.
— The AJC’s Kristi Swartz contributed to this report.
A note of disclosure
This coverage is supported by a partnership with Green South Foundation and Journalism Funding Partners. You can learn more and support our climate reporting by donating at AJC.com/donate/climate.
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