A group of state lawmakers in Georgia introduced Senate Bill 34 to protect residential customers of Georgia Power from having to pay for data center operations. This bill aims to change state law governed by the Public Service Commission to prevent commercial data center costs from being passed on to consumers in rates or charges.

Filed by State Sen. Chuck Hufstetler (R-Rome) with support from 18 bipartisan sponsors, the bill responds to a PSC vote on January 23 that required different power rates for data centers compared to residential and commercial customers. The proposed legislation would state that costs incurred by electric utilities for commercial data centers cannot be charged to other customers. It also seeks to block power companies from substantially recovering these costs through charges to other consumers.

Hufstetler stressed that the intent is to hold data centers accountable for their own costs, especially as Georgia has experienced six rate increases in two years, resulting in high consumer bills. In Georgia, the average household uses around 956 kilowatt hours monthly, while data centers often consume much more.

Georgia Power anticipates significant power load growth in the coming years and plans to enhance renewable resources to manage this increase effectively.