民主党拿下佐治亚州公共服务委员会，拟挑战 Georgia Power 为数据中心扩建燃气电站

Georgia residents are angry at the state’s unchecked data center boom and rising electric bills — and they voted accordingly in last week’s election.

Democrats won every statewide race in Georgia, including two seats on the Public Service Commission. Republicans had held a majority at the powerful utility regulator for 30 years. 

The winning candidates, Commissioner-elect Shelia Edwards and reelected Commissioner Peter Hubbard, have made clear that their top priority is to rein in rising electricity bills from Georgia Power, the state’s biggest utility. That likely means the new Democratic majority will challenge Georgia Power’s plans to enact one of the largest fossil-fuel expansions in the nation. 

In December 2025, the Republican-led PSC approved Georgia Power’s plan to build nearly 10 gigawatts of new gas-fired power plants and batteries to serve proposed data centers. It did so despite recommendations from commission staff to approve only about one-third of that capacity right away, given the speculative nature of the data center growth projections that the utility used to justify its buildout. 

All three Democrats on the five-member commission have signaled opposition to those plans. The two Democrats already on the commission, Hubbard and Alicia Johnson, tried earlier this year to get the PSC to reconsider the planned gas buildout but were thwarted by the GOP majority. 

The five new gas-burning plants planned as part of that buildout could cost customers an estimated $50 billion to $60 billion over their multi-decade lifespan and lock in significant amounts of new greenhouse gas emissions, according to estimates from the Southern Environmental Law Center. Hubbard, who worked for 16 years in utility planning and renewable energy project development, has conducted his own analysis that found a ​“cost-optimized portfolio” prioritizing solar, batteries, and energy efficiency could meet expected demand and save billions of dollars compared to the utility’s gas-heavy approach.

Georgia Power’s expensive gas buildout would exacerbate the affordability challenges its customers already face. 

“Georgia Power is making billions while Georgia families are struggling,” Edwards, who owns a communications consulting firm, said during an Oct. 28 press event hosted by the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, a nonprofit advocacy group. ​“Something is fundamentally wrong with that picture.” 

Controlling data center costs — and making them pay their own way

In February, the PSC voted 3–2 against a motion brought by environmental advocates to reconsider the 10-GW gas buildout, with Hubbard and Johnson voting to block the expansion. The Democratic commissioners argued that the utility had failed to prove that data center growth justified the cost.

Nor was their opposition enough to discourage Georgia Power. Just months later, in April, the utility submitted a new request to the PSC seeking permission to add somewhere between 2 GW and 6 GW of additional ​“dispatchable capacity resources.” Utility critics fear this new round will also tilt toward a preponderance of gas power plants instead of solar, batteries, or other cleaner options. 

Georgia Power says that its broader customer base will be insulated from cost increases related to its gas buildout, and that growing electricity sales will put ​“downward pressure” on customer rates. 

Last year, the all-Republican commission approved a rule that would allow Georgia Power to force data centers and other large customers to cover the costs of the new power plants and grid infrastructure built to serve them. Other utilities and state regulators have made similar pledges via ​“large load tariffs” meant to force data center developers to commit to paying a significant portion of their costs if they don’t get built or shut down early. 

“We know our customers depend on us to keep energy reliable and affordable for their homes and businesses,” Rick Anderson, the utility’s senior vice president and senior production officer, said in an April announcement. ​“As we continue to invest in diverse, flexible generation resources, we also continue to work with new large-load customers who are driving much of this growth on appropriate contracts that are designed to cover the cost to serve them.”

But the utility’s critics say it has failed to prove that its contracts with data centers really do protect customers. They also contend that the Republican majority on the commission has rebuffed repeated demands for more transparency into how the requirements might be enforced. 

Those concerns were heightened earlier this year when OpenAI revealed its plans for a 3.2-GW data center in southeast Georgia.