Georgia Power has proposed one fix. The public record shows seven more cost categories it does not touch.
Georgia is using more electricity as large new customers, including data centers, connect to the power grid. More electricity use can mean more costs.
The question is: Who should pay those costs?
Georgia families and small businesses should not be stuck paying costs created by some of the biggest power users on the system.
GEORGIA POWER’S FIX IS LIMITED
Georgia Power recently proposed a new split for one type of cost.
Under the proposal, large customers would pay the new gas pipeline costs they cause instead of passing those costs to everyone else.
That is a step. But it addresses only a small part of the costs identified in the public record.
OTHER CUSTOMERS COVER THE GAP
When some customers do not contribute toward certain shared costs, those costs do not disappear.
Someone still has to pay them.
That is why the Georgia Public Service Commission is examining a pricing program open to large commercial and industrial customers, data centers among them. The question is how the money those customers pay gets split between two accounts, and whether the split leaves other customers covering costs they did not create.
Commission Staff has proposed a broader method for calculating these costs.
THE PUBLIC CANNOT SEE THE FULL COST
There is another problem: Georgians cannot see all the numbers.
Important information needed to understand the full size of the issue is not publicly available, including several cost figures and information about how much electricity these large customers use.
That makes it harder for Georgians to answer a basic question about their power system: Are the customers creating new costs paying their fair share?
THE COMMISSION VOTES 15 DECEMBER
The Public Service Commission votes on 15 December 2026 if the schedule holds.
On 15 October the Commission holds a hearing where its own staff and outside parties put their evidence on the record. That hearing is open to the public.
Anyone can file a written comment, and you do not have to be a party to the case. Comments must reach the Commission at least 24 hours before it votes, so 14 December is the last day if the schedule holds. File at psc.ga.gov/public-comments and reference Docket 57171.
The PSC must divide Georgia’s electricity costs fairly and transparently.
BIG NEW CUSTOMERS SHOULD PAY THE COSTS THEY CREATE
Georgians deserve answers about the whole bill, not just one line on it.
Georgia families and small businesses should not be left with the tab.
GCVEF regularly supports community members to share their comments and concerns with the Georgia Public Service Commission. If you’d like to join us at a PSC Hearing for Docket 57171, complete this form: Data Center Hearings Sign Up