Georgia Power wants to lower bills, but who pays for data centers?

Georgia Power, the state's largest electric utility, has proposed a fuel rate reduction that would slightly lower customer bills, a reversal from recent increases. However, consumer and environmental advocates are raising concerns before the Georgia Public Service Commission, arguing that the proposed rate structure might lead ordinary customers to subsidize the substantial infrastructure costs required to serve new, large energy consumers like data centers. Critics point to new natural gas turbines and associated firm transportation costs, which are primarily driven by data center demand, as examples of expenses that could be unfairly passed on through the fuel cost recovery mechanism. During a hearing, Commissioner Peter Hubbard questioned whether costs are being borne by those causing them. Bobby Baker, representing MARTA, asserted that new power units would not have been built without the large increase in data center demand. While Georgia Power officials, like Assistant Comptroller Matthew Berrigan, maintain that infrastructure serves the entire grid and large users pay their fair share, consumer advocates and the commission's public interest staff are not satisfied. The public interest advocacy staff has recommended an investigation into how large commercial customers pay for power and fuel, suggesting possible changes. They also called for denying specific fossil and nuclear plant outage costs and terminating a fuel price hedging program. While adopting these staff recommendations could further reduce customer bills, a final vote on the fuel cost proposal and a separate charge for Hurricane Helene cleanup costs is anticipated later this month by the Georgia Public Service Commission.