PSC Candidate Says Commission Won’t Allow More Pay Rates
Data Center Fair Share
Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) member Fitz Johnson, who is up for re-election Nov. 4, has been making rounds lately telling citizens that the PSC understands concerns about data centers and that the commission will not burden Georgia Power customers with additional costs of infrastructure to accommodate the additional power required by data centers.
Johnson spoke to the Bartow County Republican Party in July about data centers and electrical power.
Bartow County has four data centers approved with one in Cartersville, one in Adairsville, one on Spring Road, and one in Taylorsville. However, more applications are expected to be submitted to local governments for as many as 12 data centers. Data centers provide cloud storage for computers, phones, and other new tech.
The largest of those – Project Bunkhouse – planned for 800 acres of a former Taylorsville ranch owned by the Gaines family is estimated to use 43,920 MWh per day in power when fully built out. That’s enough to power about 1.53 million average U.S. homes or the residential populations of Hawaii, New Hampshire, and Delaware combined.
Official estimates are that Project Bunkhouse will use 625,000 gallons of water daily. While data centers are typically selected because of access to power and water, they don’t have the infrastructure in place to accommodate the expected use.
Brandon Bowen, representing data center builder Atlas Development, said during discussions of a proposed data center near Barnsley Gardens that Georgia Power is obligated to supply necessary power to the facility if it’s approved to be built, and that includes the infrastructure. That proposal was denied.
The big question is who would pay for infrastructure construction? Georgia Power would be required to come back to the PSC to approve rate increases to pay for additional infrastructure. Johnson said the PSC won’t approve for Georgia Power to pass those costs on to customers.
Customers began protesting power bills online after the last rate hike pushed some bills up past $700 a month. Newcomers and long-term residents in the area find the skyrocketing bill hard to believe.
“What is Georgia Power? $576 Ranch style house 3 bedrooms . Where are the extra $200 in charges coming from for this bill.”
“This happened to us 2 months in a row for a 3 bedroom townhome. $620”
“Anyone get a new electric “smart” meter from Georgia Power? Did your bill increase after you got a new meter? Ours did go up by about $100/month.”
“We live in a 3-bed and pay $140 every single Wednesday!”
The PSC approved a plan to freeze base power rates until 2028. However, the freeze allows the power company to petition the commission in 2026 for recovery costs associated with Hurricane Helene that swept through the southeast last year.
The PSC doesn’t have a good track record when it comes to saying “no” to Georgia Power. The power giant asked to increase costs on its customers to pay for cost overruns at its new phase of the nuclear power facility at Plant Vogtle. The PSC approved six power rate hikes in the past three years with residential customers bearing the brunt of the hikes.
Those include:
A three-year plan for $1.8 billion in rate increases approved by the PSC that began Jan. 1, 2023. The first rate increase was 2.6% or $3.60 a month with increases set to rise 4.5% in 2024 and 2025.
The PSC approved a 12.7% power rate increase in June 2023 to pay for fuel cost recovery.
An additional rate increase of 4.8% approved by the PSC and began in August 2023 to pay for Vogtle Unit 3 cost overruns.
The 4.5% rate bump from the three-year plan approved in 2022 kicked in Jan. 1, 2024.
A separate 6.2% rate increase tied to cost overruns of Vogtle Unit 4 was approved and initiated May 1, 2024.
A 3.5% rate hike as part of the 2022 three-year plan that began Jan. 1. 2025.
The average total cost of the rate hikes per residential customer is $43 a month.
Georgia Power soared with $2.5 billion in profit in 2024, a 22.3% over 2023 and 40% above profits made prior to the increases approved by the PSC that began in January 2023.
Two PSC seats will be decided in the November 4 election. Incumbent Tim Echols (R) and Alicia Johnson (D) are running for District 2. Johnson ( R) is running against Peter Hubbard (D) for the District 3 seat. Even though the PSC is set up by districts, all PSC seats are approved in statewide voting.
Melody Dareing is a freelance writer for publications in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., and Germany. She is a former news director of Adelphia Channel 4 and WBHF Radio.