Georgia utility regulators greenlight probe into data center costs

by Alander Rocha, Georgia Recorder, [This article first appeared in the Georgia Recorder, republished with permission]

July 7, 2026

The Georgia Public Service Commission approved an investigation into whether Georgia Power’s industrial customers who are heavy energy consumers, like data centers, are shifting some costs to residential customers.

The investigation was part of an agreement the utility company and PSC staff reached in May that slightly lowered the amount of the utility’s fuel and Hurricane Helene cleanup costs could be passed on to residential customers. The investigation will focus on a pricing structure used primarily by data centers and other large industrial customers that the commission staff said in a filing could drive the average cost for residential customers by up to 11% per month by 2028, which is likely to increase as demand for energy to power data centers grows.

Staff members with the Public Service Commission recommended commissioners sign off on further investigation, which they did Tuesday.  

The move was celebrated by environmental advocates. Ja’Mae Rooks of the Georgia Conservation Voters Education Fund, an environmental advocacy organization, said in a statement that “Georgians deserve to understand exactly who is paying for the massive growth in electricity demand from data centers, and who isn’t.”

“This investigation is a critical first step toward transparency. Families, small businesses, and churches shouldn’t be paying for Jeff Bezos’ data centers,” Rooks said, referring to the founder of Amazon.

During Tuesday’s hearing, Democratic commissioner Peter Hubbard pushed for a deeper investigation on the special pricing structure, saying that he wants to “make sure that we’re looking at this holistically.”

But Georgia Power pushed back. Steve Hughes, who represented the utility company, said that Hubbard’s proposal would take much longer to complete as it changes “the scope of the proceeding and changes the language that we agreed to in the stipulation that became an order of this commission.” But he assured Hubbard that the investigation would look into the concerns that the Democratic commissioner raised.

“Altering the procedural and scheduling order to add a word that could have many different meanings, and people could look at it as a base case analysis, is what I’m trying to make sure doesn’t happen,” Hughes said.

Hubbard’s proposal for a deeper analysis was voted down by the Republican majority on the commission, but the commission unanimously approved the investigation that Georgia Power agreed to in May’s fuel case hearing, which is set to be completed by the end of the year.

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