ATLANTA — Georgia lawmakers are considering a bipartisan measure to prevent utility companies from passing the costs of new data center infrastructure on to residential consumers.
The proposed legislation would stop rate payers from bearing the financial burden of building new power plants and other facilities required to support the industry.
The legislative effort follows opposition from residents in Atlanta’s Adair Park neighborhood, where a new data center has been proposed.
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State Rep. Brad Thomas (R-Holly Springs) is leading the push to ensure that the capital costs associated with these projects do not fall on small business owners or residential customers.
Residents in the Adair Park community have been vocal in their opposition to the data center planned for their neighborhood. Some neighbors have expressed concerns about the impact of the facility on their local utility bills and the community environment.
Justin Brew, who lives in the neighborhood, told Channel 2’s Richard Elliot that he recognizes his role in the demand for data storage by using AI tools.
“I use things like ChatGPT and stuff like that, so obviously, I’m contributing to some sense of a data center,” Brew said.
While Brew said he does not necessarily hate data centers, he opposes the idea of neighbors funding the infrastructure for profitable technology companies.
“I feel like there, if you take something like ChatGPT, you guys are making enough money where you can fund your own data centers. Like it doesn’t need to come on the neighborhood or the neighbors to fund these things,” he said.
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At the Georgia Capitol, Rep. Thomas is spearheading the legislative response to these concerns. Thomas said the measure is designed to address widespread anxiety regarding rising utility bills in districts where data centers are being developed.
“Everyone was concerned about this specific issue, about ensuring that their bills don’t go up, things that bring data centers into their districts,” Thomas said.
The proposed bill specifically targets the “stranded costs” that can occur when residential and business owners are forced to subsidize the construction and capital needs of industrial data facilities. This includes the building of new power plants and related infrastructure required to handle the high energy demands of data processing centers.
Thomas emphasized that the goal is to shield smaller rate payers from these expenses.
“And it’s about protecting small business owners and residential rate payers,” Thomas said. “To ensure that anything that’s associated with data centers and moving in the costs to construct them, capital costs, don’t get stranded on the residential or business owners.”
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