New stipulation forces review of large-load customer billing practices after hearings exposed major gaps in consumer protections
(Atlanta, Georgia) – Hours before a second round of hearings scrutinizing how Georgia Power “failed to employ industry best practices” in accounting for what goes on customers’ bills began, the Public Service Commission’s (PSC) Public Interest Advisory Staff (PIA) reached a tentative agreement with the monopoly utility giant that forces a forensic examination of how large load customers, like data centers, do not pay their own way. If approved by the Commission, the investigative docket must conclude by the end of 2026 and would bring a significantly greater level of transparency to how this customer class is billed. Testimony at the PSC this month has already proven correct warnings from trade experts, advocates, and watchdog groups that the rules promoted by legacy Commissioners are inadequate to protect Georgians from rising bills.
“For more than a year, Georgia Power told families, seniors, small businesses, and lawmakers that everything was under control. These hearings proved that was not true,” said Ja’Mae Rooks, spokesperson for the Georgia Conservation Voters Education Fund. “Georgia families should not be forced to subsidize billion-dollar data centers. If these companies want enormous amounts of power, they need to pay their own way — not hide those costs in monthly bills.”
The revelation comes only a week after Commissioners opined to FERC that “Georgia is the national model for protecting consumers from data center costs. My work with the White House National Energy Dominance Council, to make the Georgia rule a part of President Trump’s energy agenda, is well known by serious energy experts in America.”
The direct connection to the “Ratepayer Protection Pledge” is telling, as the Georgia PSC’s rule – similarly as unenforceable as the White House’s – is already falling apart under scrutiny. As Southern Environmental Law Center noted in their release, Georgia Power presented no plan to ensure that data centers will cover those costs in the future. With that in mind, advocates warned that the agreement does not go far enough to fully protect customers from future bill increases.
“This is progress, but it is not a blank check for the PSC to declare victory,” said Rooks. “The central question remains unanswered: when new gas pipelines, fuel costs, and grid upgrades are built to serve data centers, who pays? The answer should be simple. The data centers pay. Not working families. Not seniors on fixed incomes. Not small businesses already struggling with high utility bills.”
The stipulation comes amid growing national debate over who should bear the costs of powering massive data center expansion. While Georgia officials have promoted the state as a national model for handling data center growth, advocates argue recent hearings demonstrated that key consumer protections remain unresolved and unenforceable without further Commission action.
“Georgia cannot call itself a national model if the model lets monopoly utilities socialize the costs and privatize the profits,” said Rooks. “The PSC has a responsibility to make these costs transparent before they hit bills — not years later, after customers have already paid.”
The so-called ‘national model’ was exposed less than a week after Gov. Ron Desantis (R, Florida) signed SB 484 into law – a provision that combines almost half of the twenty data center bills that the Georgia legislature failed to act on in 2025-2026, proving that Southern states can lead on this issue.