ATLANTA — Several environmental and religious groups are asking a court to review if the state broke the law after it approved Georgia Power’s request for energy-related costs over data centers.
In December, the Georgia Public Service Commission allowed Georgia Power to provide 10 new gigawatts of power, mostly expected to go to data centers.
According to the group’s petition to the court, it said “the Public Service Commission approved Georgia Power charging customers for an estimated $50–60 billion dollars of electricity-generating resources without first answering the statutorily required question: Will customers need each resource when the resource begins to operate? And the Public Service Commission certified 757 megawatts of new energy resources, enough to power over 150,000 households, without evidentiary support: even Georgia Power’s data shows it is not needed during the relevant time frame.”
The petition goes on to say, “the Commission exceeded its statutory authority when it failed to follow the law’s protections against a monopoly utility’s unnecessary and uneconomic investments that will be charged to captive customers, and it clearly erred by certifying far more investments than necessary.”
When the PSC approved Georgia Power’s request, all of the commission’s seats were held by Republicans. Since then, two Democrats were elected to the board and urged the board to wait until they were sworn in to vote on Georgia Power’s request.
In an earlier interview, Georgia Power said it needs to be ready for the future.
TRENDING STORIES:
- COVID variant emerges: What you need to know
- Slutty Vegan founder’s home seized
- Neighbors fighting new Chick-fil-A set to go up
“The Georgia PSC’s unanimous decision in December not only provides the energy we need to keep energy reliable for a growing Georgia, but delivers savings of more than $100 per year for the typical residential customer. The generation resources were properly approved and certified by the Commission,” Georgia Power spokesperson Matthew Kent said in a statement. “This suit has no merit and is a simple attempt to create economic and regulatory chaos. We don’t think it needs to be reconsidered.”
Georgia Power estimates that at least 80% of future demand will come from data centers.
“My concern is we’re talking about theoretical contracts with theoretical large load data centers,” Liz Coyle, the executive director of Georgia Watch, said. “But the money to build these facilities is very, very real.”
Coyle worries that Georgia Power may be overestimating future demand while committing billions to non-renewable energy sources. She is concerned that if the contracts do not materialize, Georgia Power customers may need to pay more.
“It locks in potentially billions and billions of dollars in spending that some customers are gonna have to pay for,” Coyle said. “Let’s say the contracts don’t come through; there are some mitigation actions that the commission or the company could take. Why are we setting ourselves up for the need to mitigate?”
If Georgia Power’s expansion unfolds as planned, it will happen over the next five years.
©2026 Cox Media Group
