Georgia PSC chairman defends data center power expansion amid criticism

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) — Georgia Public Service Commission Chairman Jason Shaw is defending a December decision to award Georgia Power nearly 10,000 megawatts of power largely designated for data centers — enough energy to power roughly nine million homes.

He called data center development “the number one issue of our current day and time here in Georgia and across the country.”

The five-member elected board, which regulates Georgia’s public utilities, voted unanimously on the grid expansion. 58 percent of the approved capacity will come from natural gas, with the remaining 42 percent from battery and solar sources.

“It’s a generational type of investment in our state that we’re seeing, but it’s also frightening from the standpoint of making sure as a policy maker that we’re doing everything to protect the other ratepayers in the state to make sure there aren’t cost shifts in serving these types of customers,” Shaw said.

Before the PSC voted in December, commissioners heard from dozens of community members calling on the board to delay the vote or add more guardrails to protect ratepayers from bearing the energy costs of data center development.

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Georgia Power testified at the time that 73 data centers were operating in the state as of December. The company said a rejection of the energy boost proposal could “significantly inhibit Georgia Power’s ability to contract with new large load customers, stifle economic development growth in Georgia, compromise the efforts the company and the commission have taken to ensure industry-leading reliability, and reduce the opportunity to place downward pressure on rates for all customers.”

In the weeks leading up to the vote, PSC staff cautioned commissioners that the cost of the energy expansion could fall to Georgia Power customers, potentially adding $20 a month to utility bills. Georgia Power and PSC staff subsequently agreed to a stipulation in the plan to better protect customers. Under that agreement, Georgia Power is guaranteeing revenue in 2029, 2030, and 2031, which the company said means the projected $20 monthly increase will not materialize.

Georgia Power has repeatedly said data centers will pay for the energy used by large load users, not everyday customers.

The vote drew public opposition, with protesters escorted out ahead of the PSC decision. Last month, two newly seated Democratic commissioners appealed to reconsider the approved expansion. That effort was blocked.

Shaw said the pressure he has faced since the decision is less about public approval and more about finding the right balance.

“The pressure is not, for me, so much from the standpoint of making everybody happy, but trying to make sure we find the right balance for our state to experience growth, to do it in a smart way so that we’re making sure we don’t have unintended consequences down the road,” Shaw said.

Shaw said load growth accelerated sharply beginning in late 2023, driven largely by demand from the artificial intelligence sector. According to PSC staff, the pipeline of prospective large load projects — about 80 percent of which are data centers — has grown from 16,000 megawatts in 2023 to approximately 69,000 megawatts of prospective projects in December 2025, the state’s most recent report.

Shaw said the contracted load is still growing.

“There was another large load contract that hit our desk in the last couple of weeks,” Shaw said.

Shaw acknowledged the core risk underlying the expansion.

“The biggest fear we’ve had from day one, is what if these loads don’t materialize,” Shaw said.

Despite that concern, Shaw said he has not yet seen demand slow.

“We’re still seeing that number of projects continue to increase, but we know it’s going to level off and slow down,” Shaw said.

Shaw said revenue from large load customers has helped stabilize rates for everyday Georgia Power customers. Georgia Power has frozen any rate hikes for a three-year period running through 2028.

“We were able to freeze base rates based on the revenue of these large-load customers. That takes us out three years to 2028,” Shaw said

Shaw said Georgia Power is also assuming risk tied to data center loads for the three years following the rate freeze.

A rate case is expected in 2028. Shaw said rates may increase at that point, but said it will not be because of data center development.

“I feel very confident, I do, that we have done everything we can to make sure that these customers pay more than their fair share — more than just their incremental costs — and that’s how we’re able to stabilize rates and put some downward pressure on rates,” Shaw said.

Shaw said the PSC has put protections in place to shield everyday customers if data center demand does not materialize.

Data centers serving 100 megawatts or more are required to sign 15-year minimum contracts, pay transmission costs upfront, meet security requirements, and fund cost-analysis studies before construction begins. PSC staff reviews each contract to ensure it meets current rules and requirements. Organizations such as the Sierra Club and Georgia Watch are permitted to review contracts— which are otherwise treated as trade secrets — on behalf of the public.

Georgia Power is required to file large load reports every quarter. Shaw said the next six months will be a key indicator of where demand is headed.

“It’s something that we’re monitoring very closely every day,” Shaw said.

If conditions change, Shaw said the PSC has tools to respond, particularly for approved projects that have not yet broken ground.

“If the volatility in the market does cause major long-term implications, we do have ways to go back and not necessarily build all of these plants, particularly if the load is not there to start with,” Shaw said.

Natural gas makes up the majority of the approved grid expansion. Shaw acknowledged price volatility as a concern but said gas remains essential to grid reliability.

“Gas is a big part of it, it’s a big part of what’s happening across the country right now,” Shaw said. “Nobody is expecting this volatility to last forever. There’s always been volatility in gas pricing.”

Shaw said nuclear technology is not yet capable of handling the scale of current load growth, making natural gas the primary near-term option.

“There’s nothing more important than reliability. Reliability and affordability balanced together is where the rubber meets the road. That’s the balance we’re trying to strike every day. Natural gas is the way to keep the grid — not just here in Georgia, but in this country,” Shaw said.

Shaw said local jurisdictions also have authority to shape data center development in their communities. He said the dynamic could benefit rural areas in particular. He pointed to one data center customer in Columbia County as an example of the potential tax impact.

“That one customer will pay more in property taxes than everyone else in the county combined. That’s unfathomable to think about that type of windfall for these communities,” Shaw said.

Shaw said the arrangement gives some rural communities a rare opportunity.

“This is a way for some of them to take advantage of a generational type of investment,” Shaw said.

Shaw said Georgia has positioned itself in an international race to capitalize on the AI boom and defended the PSC’s approach to managing that growth.

“It’s going to happen it looks like, so we might as well be in the win column and take advantage of it for our citizens,” Shaw said.

“The actions that we’ve taken with the rules we’ve made in terms of the contracts these customers sign ensures that those customers — and the impacts of them — is not going to put upward pressure on rates. That’s what we can control and that’s what we’ve been dealing with,” Shaw said.