Modest customer wins at PSC, but no guarantee that data centers will pay their share
ATLANTA —Today, the Georgia Public Service Commission staff issued a settlement in Georgia Power’s fuel and storm cost dockets. The settlement, which the Commission will vote on later this month, secures some important improvements for customers.
In the settlement, the Commission estimates changes will decrease residential customer bills by $4 per month. While new fuel and storm costs are pushing bills up by approximately $6 a month (an improvement over the nearly $9/month increase estimated in Georgia Power’s initial filing), because customers have finally finished paying off a debt of more than $10/month from 2022 gas price spikes, the final savings on bills equal approximately $4 per month.
The settlement also cuts Georgia Power’s storm costs request by nearly 60 percent and increases the threshold for when Georgia Power can collect profit on any individual storm recovery effort from $50,000 to $500,000. It also limits the unreasonable costs Georgia Power spends on the hedging program for methane gas and limits the amount of overpriced coal that Georgia Power can purchase.
On behalf of Georgia Interfaith Power & Light and the Southface Institute, the Southern Environmental Law Center intervened in the fuel costs and storm recovery proceedings to advocate that data centers pay their fair share and to ensure Georgia Power is not passing burdensome and unnecessary costs onto Georgians.
The settlement follows a number of concerning proposals revealed in the fuel cost hearings, including that Georgia Power is proposing that new data centers contribute zero dollars to very large categories of costs that data centers themselves are increasing. These cost categories include new and existing methane gas pipelines and Georgia Power’s “hedging program” for insurance against unpredictable gas prices. In addition, Staff analysis demonstrated that prices per unit of fuel were rising across the board by 5-11% with the addition of new large load customers, like data centers, who contribute nothing to offset these rising fuel prices for everyone else.
Georgia Power presented no plan to ensure that data centers will cover those costs in the future, but this Settlement does include a new proceeding to take place at the Commission this year to study how Georgia Power’s largest customers (“RTP” customers) are contributing to fuel costs. Before the end of 2026, the Commission will have another opportunity, following that docket to address the profound cost shift issues revealed in this one.
The hearings also disclosed Georgia Power’s plans to burn an extraordinary amount of coal, which is based in large part on its position that burning more coal is necessary to shore up the reliability of the grid. Though the settlement does not address the substantial increase in uneconomic burning of coal, it does require Georgia Power to reduce overpriced purchases of coal to 15% of total coal purchases.
"We are glad that the Commission Staff has negotiated some big improvements, including some much-needed bill relief for customers, and that Staff has insisted on a docket to study the subsidization of new data centers’ fuel costs by existing customers,” said Jennifer Whitfield, Senior Attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center. “However, it is alarming that Georgia Power's definition of "no cost shift" for data centers means that everyone else pays for costs the data centers plainly cause.”
“We are grateful the Commission Staff negotiated some additional bill relief for customers and now plans to hold a new docket to examine how costs of data center energy demand are being passed to existing customers,” said Codi Norred, Executive Director of Georgia Interfaith Power & Light. “That being said, it’s not enough. Georgia Power can’t continue to invest in fossil fuels, making storms worse and then profit off those storms. Nor can they pass the costs of supplying fossil fuels to data centers on to everyday Georgians. It’s unjust.”
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The Southern Environmental Law Center is one of the nation’s most powerful defenders of the environment, rooted in the South. With a long track record, SELC takes on the toughest environmental challenges in court, in government, and in our communities to protect our region’s air, water, climate, wildlife, lands, and people. Nonprofit and nonpartisan, the organization has a staff of 250, including more than 160 legal and policy experts, and is headquartered in Charlottesville, Va., with offices in Asheville, Atlanta, Birmingham, Chapel Hill, Charleston, Nashville, Richmond, and Washington, D.C. southernenvironment.org
Georgia Interfaith Power and Light (GIPL) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that inspires and equips communities of faith to organize, implement practical climate solutions, and advocate across Georgia on issues of climate change, environmental justice, and community resilience. Born out of the national Interfaith Power and Light movement, GIPL envisions a Georgia where all people can flourish in a healthy environment, a stable climate, and resilient communities. gipl.org
REV. JAY HORTON
Communications Manager
Georgia Interfaith Power & Light
Phone: 540.421.6968
Email: jay@gipl.org
EMILY DRISCOLL
Communications Manager (GA)
Southern Environmental Law Center
Phone: 404.641.8108
Email: edriscoll@selc.org
