ATLANTA — A new rule from the Georgia Public Service Commission, who regulates the state’s utility companies like Georgia Power, will make it so data centers are charged a different rate than other customers.
The rule was approved unanimously during a Thursday PSC meeting, making it so Georgia Power can “protect ratepayers from cost shifting” by charging the data centers separately.
The docket in question was part of an interim Integrated Resource Plan from the power company that passed unanimously in April 2024, also adding extra capacity to the state power grid.
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According to the new rule approved by commissioners, any customers using more than 100 megawatts of energy can be billed beyond the standards of other customers in a bid to “address risks associated with these large-load users.”
“The amount of energy these new industries consume is staggering,” PSC Chairman Jason Shaw said in a statement. “By approving this new rule, the PSC is helping ensure that existing Georgia Power customers will be spared additional costs associated with adding these large-load customers to the grid.”
PSC said in a statement that on top of site-specific costs, data centers would also have to pay for costs of upstream generation, transmission and distribution to large-load power users as data center construction moves forward.
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“Our Commission’s action today protects residential and small business customers from data center load financial impacts,” PSC Vice Chairman Tim Echols said. “We want to keep Georgia the best place to do business, but data centers will need to bear the cost of their electricity acquisition.”
The commission said that the new rule was also just one of several actions they plan to take to protect Georgia ratepayers regarding data center energy needs.
Currently, data solutions company LandGate said that several factors for how the state is powered contribute to the environment.
“Georgia’s power is primarily managed by Georgia Power, which ensures efficient, low cost, and renewable energy options through its provisions to balance costs and work towards sustainability,” LandGate said in a recent publication. “With projections showing an estimated tripling of energy demand by the end of this decade, strategic infrastructural upgrades are essential to ensure that demand is being met.”
Channel 2 Action News has covered plans for other data centers to be built in Henry, Fayette, Douglas, Coweta and Butts counties.
LandGate said there are nearly 90 data centers in Georgia and at least 18 new ones on the way with another 10 planning expansions.
According to LandGate’s data center analysis, Atlanta is a major hub for active, planned, and planned for expansion data centers in Georgia and part of that development was thanks to “significant investments from industry giants like Microsoft, Meta, Amazon Web Services, and Google.”
Those locations include spots like Atlanta, Lithia Springs, Douglasville, Alpharetta and Suwanee, all spread out in various metro Atlanta area counties.
The company also said within the metro area, 54% of data centers were in Fulton County, as far as which areas were top data center markets.
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