u/PattyDurand

Today at the PSC, staff is reviewing a contract between OpenAI and Georgia Power regarding the Effingham County data center. If staff object to it, commissioners will review it in a hearing. But if they don't, the contract is automatically approved.

Here's where the exploitation hides in this contract:

1. The contract is heavily redacted - nobody other than PSC staff and commissioners may see it but it allows Georgia Power to spend $7 billion on gas and transmission and who knows what else since it’s redacted, of potentially our money, for ChatGPT to build the largest AI data center in Georgia.
2. Although Georgia Power claims their AI data center contracts collect 15 years of up-front costs to protect customers from financial risk like OpenAI bankruptcy, a data center bubble, etc. However, this project/contract only collects enough only for four years. How much lying is Georgia Power actually doing?
3. In either case, customers are not protected. Georgia Power is. But we are not.

Commissioner Hubbard is asking for more customer protections to be added to the contract. Without a Dem majority, he is unlikely to get anything for us: the Republicans on the commission seem not to have learned any lessons from last year’s massive defeat from Fitz Johnson and Tim Echols. Will we have to show them ALL the door to get a commission that does its job?

We've had enough of this lack of consideration for consumers when it comes to data centers. It's clear that the current majority in the PSC cares more about GA Power's big profits than the actual impacts data centers will have on consumers. We have the power to make a change. Vote in the PSC elections this fall.

Yesterday the largest data center in U.S. history was announced: Open AI is building a $20 billion behemoth in Effingham County, Georgia. Why are so many data centers coming to Georgia? Because Georgia Power wants them to, and they control Republicans. Republicans rewrote the rules to subsidize them: data centers receive exemptions from state and local sales taxes on expensive equipment and often negotiate substantial property tax abatements with local governments. Then Republicans refused to pass Senate Bill 34, legislation that would have strengthened protections to ensure utility customers weren't left paying for electric infrastructure built to serve massive new data centers.

Meanwhile, we know from Georgia PSC hearings that Georgia Power is already cost shifting gas pipeline costs associated with serving data centers to residential and small business electric rates.

Big Tech receives tax breaks; Georgia Power builds more infrastructure and earns higher profits; and we pay taxes, pay bigger electric bills, and pay for the infrastructure needed to support one of the fastest growing data center markets in America. That isn't free market capitalism. It's corporate welfare backed by Republican politicians.

If you're tired of watching powerful corporations receive special treatment while your electric bill keeps climbing, it's time to hold elected officials accountable. This fall, vote for Peter Hubbard and Shelia Edwards for the Public Service Commission. And vote out Matt Brass, who shot down SB34.

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We are lucky to be joined by not only the candidates themselves, but also Jane Fonda, Bill McKibben, and others who will share their insights about Georgia's utility crisis.

Use this link to register: https://thirdact.org/events/power-democracy-webinar/

In 2025, Georgia Power disconnected service to 273,800 households, affecting roughly one in every nine households it serves. That disconnect rate is over ten times higher than utility industry norms.

I'm working with two reporters on stories about this because more people need to understand what is happening. Being disconnected from power is life threatening in summer, and can have devastating consequences like eviction, loss of food and medicines, etc.

Georgia Power bills are fifth highest in the nation, and in 2025 Georgia Power reported a record $2.851 billion in profits last year which they called "transformational".

I have a request: have you, or someone you know, had your electricity disconnected by Georgia Power? Reporters want to tell the human stories behind the statistics, not just report the numbers. If you're willing to share your experience, you can remain anonymous if you prefer.

If you are willing to talk, please email me at patty@georgiansforaffordableenergy.org. Your story could help others understand the real impact these disconnections have on Georgia families.

The backlash against data centers in Georgia is more intense than anything I've ever seen. It dwarfs anger Georgians have against Georgia Power and their Republican PSC enablers for expanding fossil fuels and accelerating climate change, and it dwarfs anger at the Republican commissions' corruption and backroom secret deal-making.

While expanding fossil fuels is difficult to see, and secret backroom deals are difficult to see, and commissioners taking money for votes is difficult to see, what is not difficult to see is the failure of Georgia's Republican leaders to control data centers. The PSC passed "guidelines" that purport to protect customers from data center costs, but they're a joke. The wording in the guidelines allows Georgia Power complete discretion. That's a mistake.

And so Georgia Power is doing what they claim they aren't. Shifting costs. But let's step it up a level: they are also using Georgia's 19th century eminent domain law to take land from rural Georgians for their installation of over 1,000 miles of high voltage transmission lines for data centers. The people of Georgia are furious at all the data centers coming here, taking land, ruining their quality of life, with Georgia Power in the background behind the failure of Republican legislators to pass legislation last session to protect them.

If Georgians want lower power bills the first thing that needs to happen is Georgia Power's enormous profits need to be brought in alignment with industry norms. And we need legislation to control data centers that Republicans would not pass in 2025 or 2026, and controlling data centers won't happen as long as the party that caused the problem remains in charge.

Senator Matt Brass killed Senate Bill 34 to require utilities to allocate data center costs. There he is smiling with Senator Greg Dolezal, both on the Regulated Industries committee where they chose to do nothing about data centers in the last two sessions. Rep. Don Parsons chairs the House Energy & Utilities Committee and blocked solar balcony legislation - the sixth solar bill he's blocked, and he also chose to do nothing about data centers.
Voters need to vote them out.

But the most important race? The two seats on the Georgia Public Service Commission. Don't like out of control data centers? Voters need to reelect Peter Hubbard who is already on the commission but is outvoted by the GOP majority, and elect Shelia Edwards to the seat Pridemore vacated. Otherwise, this will not stop. It will get worse. The political party that caused the problem is not the one that is going to solve it.

We will find out November 3rd if Georgia voters connect the dots, and let's hope they do. Because only voters can stop what's happening. Georgia Power would be perfectly happy to blanket Georgia with data centers and gas plants. And be perfectly happy to profit off accelerated grid destruction too.

Here are the weak PSC consumer protection rules for data centers. Weak language highlighted in black.

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GA Public Service Commission Candidate Josh Tolbert criticized New York’s suggestion to have customers keep their thermostats at 78 degrees during a heat wave. He called that “bad utility planning.” What he failed to mention was how some Georgia Power customers keep their thermostats at 78 degrees because they can’t afford their power bills otherwise. Georgia families pay some of the highest power bills in the country, while earning significantly less, on average, than New Yorkers. How is that a fair comparison?

These high bills aren’t because Georgians are using more power; it's because of Georgia’s legacy of a Public Service Commission that puts Georgia Power’s interests over consumers’.

It's time that we put Georgia families and small businesses first. If you want commissioners who will challenge Georgia Power and fight for lower bills, support Shelia Edwards and Peter Hubbard this fall.

The price of generating power from the sun and the wind has dropped below the price of generating power from gas and coal.

However, Georgia is not taking advantage of this price drop and instead we are in 47th place for residential solar. Why? Because Georgia Power, who are expanding gas generation faster than any other state in the nation in order to accommodate data centers. Why gas? Because it profits 5 Southern Company affiliates. And of course, profits matter more to them than our planet.

The bottom line is that Georgia and the United States are behind in clean energy production, and instead are moving backwards while everyone else moves forward. China is producing 3 gigawatts of solar energy per day. Through their expansion of solar generation and battery storage, California is using 40% less natural gas to generate electricity than they were 2 years ago. Texas is adding more solar to the grid than California because state law requires the cheapest energy generation choice gets selected first.

It’s time for a change: for utility bills to be cheaper and our energy generation to be cleaner. This fall, vote in the PSC elections for Peter Hubbard and Shelia Edwards— two candidates who will keep Georgia Power’s moves for profit in check.

Representative Don Parsons claimed that nuclear fusion reactors were in the works and capable of generating power for the whole country. This kind of generation is far from ready in the US. However, there is already a nuclear fusion reactor that can generate power… and that is the sun. It’s a no-brainer… why aren’t we using that?

Well, Representative Parsons has continuously blocked legislation that would empower consumers to use solar generation in their homes, making utility bills cheaper and lessening the use of the extremely expensive nuclear power we use today. Georgia is one of the sunniest states in the country, and yet we are behind in solar production. Parsons blocked the use of balcony solar, claiming it was unsafe and would interfere with the grid. But Utah, Maine, Virginia, Colorado, Maryland, Connecticut, and Vermont have all signed a plug-in solar bill into law, and Germany has been using this technology for years. It makes no sense for Georgia not to do the same… unless you’re Georgia Power.

GA District 44 Representative Parsons is up for re-election this fall. If you’re worried about clean energy and your utility bill, vote instead for Danielle Bell.

Join me today from 6-7 pm for a webinar titled When the Lights Stay On, But Families Fall Behind where I'll be discussing two key reasons why data centers are rushing to Georgia, why Georgia Power is expanding CO2 emissions mind blowing amounts by relying on coal and gas to power them, and what opponents can do about it.

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Data centers are coming to Georgia, and Georgia Power is choosing corporate profit over clean energy and innovation.

They are accommodating these large load customers by expanding the use of nuclear, gas, and coal power production because ultimately, clean energy makes this big corporation less money. This is not the only time Georgia Power has prioritized profit over livelihood: they also got Don Parsons to block both the Rooftop and Balcony Solar bills, which would have decreased energy costs for customers.

What this all comes down to is that the US is behind. While China is powering its data centers with AI and solar power, Georgians are losing their homes to gas grid expansions. While Germans widely use balcony solar panels, Georgia's bill never passed.

This November, vote out Matt Brass and Don Parsons. Vote for Peter Hubbard and Shelia Edwards for the PSC.

As we well know. Georgia Power has increased rates six times in three years, adding $60/month to an average summer residential bill between 2022-2025. Those enormous rate increases delivered record profits to Georgia Power of $2.851 billion in 2025, profits so enormous their CEO called it "transformative". What else was transformative? The record number of disconnections we experienced, their customers, with over 10% of Georgia Power's residential base getting disconnected in 2025. 275,000 customers were disconnected, a number that is 10 times higher than utility norms.

I am working with a film crew creating a documentary about Georgia Power's exploitation of its captive customers and weak state consumer protections, and the film crew would like to get out from behind the numbers and speak with a few people who have experienced a Georgia Power disconnection and its impact on you and your family. If you have a story to tell please contact me.

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Georgians are fighting data centers across the state at county commission meetings, not realizing that state legislators have created the conditions that are causing the problems.

What are the conditions? In 2018, legislators removed all state and local taxes for data centers, and in 2010, legislators eliminated the Consumer Utility Counsel, leaving Georgia one of only five states to not have this critical role. Without a CUC, only industrials, manufacturers, data centers, and Georgia Power have representation at the PSC. Thus, electricity for data centers are rock bottom while residential utility bills are in the top five.

Finally, in both 2024 and 2025, state legislators (think Burt Jones and Matt Brass) refused legislation to require data centers to pay for grid expansion costs Georgia Power is making. Problem solved: get rid of Burt Jones (which happened yesterday) and get rid of Matt Brass on Nov. 3.