ATLANTA — Data centers that consume massive amounts of energy are coming to Georgia.
One state lawmaker wants to make sure Georgia Power doesn’t pass on the costs of building that infrastructure to consumers.
Currently, Georgia Power customers are having to pay for years of cost overruns for the two new nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle.
Rome Republican state Sen. Chuck Hufstetler said they’ve seen six rate increases in less than a year, and with more and more energy-guzzling data centers coming to Georgia, he wants to make sure that doesn’t happen again.
“We’ve got massive, massive costs coming with these data centers, and I think they deserve to know that it’s codified into law that they won’t be getting those costs,” Hufstetler told Channel 2’s Richard Elliot.
His bill would prevent Georgia Power from passing on energy and infrastructure costs to customers that the data centers themselves would have to pay for them.
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In a Tuesday morning Senate committee hearing, Georgia Power insisted it had no plans to do that and opposed the bill even though it passed out of committee.
Senate Republican Majority Leader Steve Gooch also opposed the bill, insisting the legislature shouldn’t usurp the authority of the Public Service Commission or single out data centers.
“The power companies are going to pass that cost onto the data centers, but we’re treating them differently than we did big manufacturers in Georgia, and I think we should look at them all as one and not separate them by industry,” Gooch said.
Huffstetler was glad to see his bill squeak through the committee with bipartisan support.
“We can say that well, it’s not going to happen in the future, but we have history, and it did happen, and we want to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” Huffstetler said.
The bill now heads to the full Senate for a vote where it’s expected to have a rougher go of it.
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