Georgia’s PSC just approved a $16 billion, ~10 GW grid expansion largely to serve data centers, locking in a huge AI-era power bet for the state.
The outgoing Republican-led commission pushed this through before two new Democrats were seated, raising clear governance and transparency red flags.
Georgia Power and regulators argue rate hikes are frozen until 2028 and claim long-term customer savings, but they are vague on how hyperscale data center loads are really being costed and who carries long-run risk.
Commissioner-elect Hubbard pegs true lifecycle costs at $50–60 billion and warns this path is more polluting and less efficient than alternatives, which matters for operators counting on “clean” AI capacity.
For AI infra builders, this looks like a classic regulated-utility subsidy play: cheap, firm power for data centers today, with political and environmental blowback deferred.
The fight here will shape how fast Georgia can add GPU-scale capacity and whether future regulators revisit terms that now look very favorable to large AI landlords.
The article is worth reading for the specifics of how one state is structurally privileging data center growth over broader customer interests and grid efficiency.
Source: New state regulator questions if data centers serve customers’ best interests
