Georgia regulators greenlight extensive methane gas buildout

GEORGIA – Earlier today, the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) approved Georgia Power’s unscheduled proposal to rapidly increase electric capacity to serve the Company’s massive new demand forecast. Georgia Power representatives testified that 80% of this new demand stems from new data centers.

The approved agreement permits Georgia Power to build new oil & gas-burning turbines at Plant Yates in Coweta County, buy coal-powered electricity from a sister company in Mississippi, and other proposals from the utility, such as skipping purchasing procedures designed to protect ratepayers. 

Just last year, the PSC permitted Georgia Power to recover more than $2 billion from ratepayers because the cost of fossil fuels was higher than the utility had anticipated. Georgia Power now plans to increase our reliance on fossil fuels for decades to come instead of investing in cheaper and stable clean energy alternatives, harming ratepayers financially in the short term and our environment/communities in the long term. 

In response, Sierra Club Georgia Chapter Director G Webber issued the following statement:

“The Public Service Commission is supposed to be our safeguard. Unfortunately, it has too often allowed Georgia Power to fail upwards and allow decisions that hurt Georgia families, small businesses and communities. Instead of challenging the utility on why its electric demand forecasts were so inaccurate just two years ago, when Georgia Power last updated its long-term energy plan, the PSC rolled over and took Georgia Power at its word. Ratepayers are already struggling due to multiple bill increases over the last two years, and now, the PSC’s decision will keep Georgia dependent on fossil fuels and their volatile costs, which are 100% paid by Georgia Power’s customers, for decades to come.”