Legislature gets second chance to address electricity costs

Go just about anywhere in the Gold Dome, and odds are good that you will hear a lawmaker drop the A-word. No, not that A-word, the other one: affordability. Ever since the exploding inflation under the Biden administration to the persistently high prices today, voters are losing their patience with elected officials whom they hold responsible.

The sour public mood is not new, which makes it even more puzzling that the Legislature balked last year at a commonsense measure that would have established safeguards to ensure fairer electric rates. Senate Bill 34—sponsored by Sen. Chuck Hufstetler, R-Rome—would have forbidden electric utilities from passing the massive costs associated with data center electricity demand onto residential customers.

Now that two of the incumbent Republican Public Service Commission’s members were trounced in recent elections, a solidly Republican seat in the Georgia House of Representatives flipped to the Democrats and a state senate special election is focusing on data centers, the General Assembly has expressed willingness to revisit Hufstetler’s bill. Given the electorate’s frustration and important elections looming, legislative action cannot come soon enough.

In most cases, I would write an issue like this off as a decision for private companies to make, and if I—as a customer—don’t like their decision, then I can instead do business with another company. However, that is not how the electricity market works in Georgia. Electric companies are given vast geographical monopolies. Residential customers have zero choice over which company to use. In exchange for their monopoly status, the Public Service Commission is allowed to regulate electric companies and their rates, and data centers are becoming a central topic.

As they flood into Georgia, demands on the electric grid are coming into focus. Data centers devour excessive amounts of electricity. Some even consume levels used by small cities, and the fear is that their emergence will require the construction of more power plants. Hufstetler has a plan for this. He does not want captive residential rate-payers to have to pay for data centers’ energy needs. Rather data centers should be on the hook for them. That’s the crux of his bill.

Some have asserted that this issue is outside of the Legislature’s scope and there is no need for this legislation anyway. The Public Service commission adopted a rule similar to Hufstetler’s bill last year. What’s more, as WABE reported, in advance of Public Service Commissioner elections last year, “the commission voted unanimously to freeze base power rates for the next three years.” Case closed, right? Far from it.

The Public Service Commission can change its own rules, and there are worries about how long the current rule regarding data centers will remain in effect. Meanwhile, captive rate-payers have reason to be wary. While the commission has put a moratorium on base rate increases, it left some wiggle room to raise electric bills due to fuel costs and hurricane cleanup.

Moreover, the commission has seemed happy to approve rate increases in the past. “Georgia Power bills have gone up six times in the last three years: three times as part of an overall rate hike, twice to pay for new nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle, and once to cover high natural gas prices,” WABE reported in October 2025.

Considering the Public Service Commission’s track record and the deluge of data centers coming to Georgia, it seems appropriate for the Legislature to assert its authority and safeguard consumers. They should not have to subsidize data centers’ energy usage, and passing SB 34 is a no-nonsense way of accomplishing this and addressing issues of affordability.

While the General Assembly has worked hard on affordability—including passing tort reform, decreasing taxes and offering tax rebates—recent elections and polls show the writing on the wall. Georgians want more relief and action. There is truthfully only so much state lawmakers can do to alleviate nationwide price inflation—the root problems are likely out of their hands—but passing a bill like Hufstetler’s will give consumers confidence that they won’t be forced to subsidize data centers’ energy use. This is a step in the right direction.

If lawmakers punt on this issue again, given how surly the electorate has been, then I worry voters might start throwing around a different A-word.