A Georgia Senate committee has rewritten legislation meant to protect consumers from higher electricity costs tied to the state’s fast-growing data center industry, advancing a version that supporters say is less explicit about shielding residential customers. The Senate Regulated Industries Committee approved the revamped proposal after rejecting language that would have clearly barred utilities from passing certain data center-related costs onto regular ratepayers.
Under the revised approach, electric utilities would be required to negotiate contracts with new data centers to address costs associated with serving those facilities. Supporters say the contract requirement is intended to ensure large, energy-intensive customers help pay for the infrastructure needed to power their operations. However, consumer advocates have expressed concern that contract language alone may not fully prevent costs from being shifted onto residential and small business customers through future rate cases or other adjustments.
The debate is landing at a time when many Georgia Power customers across Northwest Georgia have already been vocal about rising monthly bills. In recent years, customers have faced multiple rate increases and riders that have pushed average bills higher, leaving families and small businesses worried that continued growth in electricity demand — including from data centers — could translate into even more upward pressure on costs.
Lawmakers and regulators are weighing how to balance Georgia’s push for large-scale economic development with the need to protect ratepayers. Data centers are often promoted for the investment and tax base they can bring, but they can also require substantial upgrades to transmission, distribution, and generation resources. The central question in the Capitol is who ultimately pays for those upgrades: the companies driving the new demand, or the broader population of customers already paying higher bills.
Opponents of stricter limits argue that the Georgia Public Service Commission already has tools to review costs and keep rates fair, and that utilities need flexibility to plan and build reliable service as demand rises. Supporters of stronger protections respond that the pace of data center expansion is changing the scale of the issue, and they want clearer guardrails to ensure everyday customers are not subsidizing the infrastructure needed for massive power users.
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