Growth Is Coming to Georgia: Here’s How Our Customers Are Protected

Since the invention of electricity, there have always been new challenges brought on by emerging industries, new technologies, and increasing demands on our electric system. And for 140 years, Georgia Power has navigated these challenges while keeping customers at the center of every decision.

Georgia Power has met every challenge by developing thoughtful, long-term plans about what comes next, investing in our grid as new demand requires it, and underneath it all, refusing to compromise on protecting the customers who already depend on us every day.

During this newest era of significant growth across the country, we pledge to prioritize Georgia Power customers, their access to reliable energy, and stable bills by:

1. Using growth to protect rates.
2. Ensuring new large-energy users pay for their own infrastructure and energy use.
3. Investing in a stronger, more reliable grid for all customers.
4. Negotiating fairly and transparently for property needed for grid expansion and maintenance.
5. Enhancing our diverse energy portfolio to improve reliability and affordability for future generations.
6. Protecting Georgia’s environment by thoughtfully planning where, when, and how we invest in our state.

These commitments have existed as part of who we are for more than a century, and in 2026, that commitment is no different.

Our Customer Protection Pledge in Action

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, residential energy prices have increased 4.9 percent nationally from July 2025 to July 2026, while inflation in the same 12-month period rose 3.49 percent. While other states and energy providers are increasing costs for their customers to keep up with this inflation, Georgia Power is decreasing them, amid this historic growth.

In December 2025, Georgia Power announced a plan with the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) that will save the typical residential customer $102 per year on their energy bills, beginning in 2029. This agreement is the result of cautious, proactive planning which leverages revenue generated from large-energy users coming to Georgia who do and will cover more than the cost necessary to build out and operate the infrastructure needed to serve these customers. That directly benefits the people we serve, enabling us to both build out more reliable infrastructure statewide for Georgia Power customers while putting savings into the pockets of our customers.

This is exactly what we’re referencing when we say, “They pay more, so you pay less.” We’re using every resource we have, including large-energy users, to not only protect our customers, but make energy more affordable and reliable. This strategy has been successful and, in September 2026, we created even more savings for customers due to contracts signed with large-energy users and increased the amount of savings to $180 per year from 2029-2031, totaling $950 million in annual savings statewide.

These savings build on two additional actions aimed at providing savings for customers. In June 2026, Georgia Power announced a rate decrease of more than $50 per year for the typical residential customer. These savings, approximately $285 million annually statewide, offset the cost increases from Hurricane Helene in 2024 with reductions to fuel costs. This decrease added to a rate freeze, approved by the PSC in July 2025 to keep rates stable through the end of 2028.

Creating more savings, on October 6, 2026, the PSC unanimously approved an agreement between Georgia Power and Google that will support upgrades on Georgia Power’s owned portion of the nuclear units at Plants Vogtle and Hatch, adding approximately 96 megawatts of new capacity to the electric grid to serve Georgia Power customers. These upgrades increase the electrical output of a nuclear generating unit through modifications to key plant equipment, such as turbines, pumps, motors, and cooling systems. As part of the transaction, Google will subscribe to and receive the Zero-Emission Credits (ZECs) associated with the power generated by the nuclear unit upgrades. Google’s subscription is expected to provide $900 million in projected benefits to Georgia Power customers over the life of the units.

Our Contract Requirements with Large-Energy Users

Georgia Power requires every new large-energy user consuming 100 megawatts or more to cover the full cost of serving their operations. Specifically, we require upfront payment for local grid equipment and facilities, minimum billing requirements, long-term contracts, and financial guarantees that protect our current 2.8 million customers from the costs we incur to serve these large customers.

Simply put, this means Georgia Power customers are not paying for the infrastructure buildout or technology needed to support large-energy users like large manufacturers and data centers coming to Georgia.

What’s actually happening is the opposite of what many fear. Since large-energy users are covering the costs to build out the infrastructure needed to serve themselves, we are able to not only update and maintain infrastructure for communities across the state, but we’re also able to lower rates because of it, rather than residential and small business customers absorbing new costs.

These large-energy users are paying more, upfront and in their contracts, so typical residential customers—like you and me—pay less for even more reliable energy, at a time when everyone could use some relief.

Using Growth to Lower Rates

The most recent example of how we’re protecting customers through contracts with large-energy users like data centers is with Project Camellia, OpenAI's new data center campus in Effingham County near Savannah, announced on July 22. Upon completion, Project Camellia is expected to create up to 1,000 jobs with average six-figure salaries, a massive economic lift for the Effingham area, and it’s expected to require 3,200 megawatts of power.

Georgia Power will serve Project Camellia in phases between 2028 and 2032, providing the energy to operate the facility. But before our contract for electric service with OpenAI was approved, OpenAI was required to agree to our terms on how we power their facility to protect our grid and existing customers. One of those requirements was demand response.

Demand response requires participating customers to agree to temporarily reduce electricity use when overall demand on the grid is at its highest. With demand response, Georgia Power can reduce demand by up to 1,000 megawatts when needed, helping maintain grid stability while reducing the need for additional generation investments. Even though Georgia Power is already well-situated to not depend too heavily on one generation source or fuel supplier due to our diverse-energy mix, demand response provides an additional protective measure from large-energy users like Project Camellia, protecting residential and small business customers from the cost of serving these hyperscalers.

Our Commitment Moving Forward

Some may ask: Why is Georgia Power emphasizing customer protection and able to stabilize and lower rates when so many other energy providers are having to raise raising rates on existing customers?

The answer is as personal as it gets for us. Our more than 7,500 employees live in communities statewide, too. We are listening to our customers regarding growth, and we’re listening intently. Not only because of what this growth requires of us to meet rising energy demand, but also because we call Georgia home, too. We care about our electric bills, our neighborhoods, and our communities the same way our neighbors do.

Progress is part of the American dream, and when faced with the inevitability of progress, we at Georgia Power refuse to abandon the principle that has guided us for more than a century: the commitment to protect our customers with every step we take toward the future.

With every step, our customers can count on Georgia Power to provide the power we need to build the future we want while protecting our friends, neighbors, and customers—today and with whatever challenge comes tomorrow.

 

Aaron Mitchell is the Senior Vice President of Strategic Growth at Georgia Power.