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Georgia Senate Bill 34: Data centers to pay fair share
Georgia is currently facing a massive surge in data center development, with companies rushing to build storage space for the artificial intelligence race. To protect residents from the staggering energy demands of these "massive warehouses," Senator Chuck Hufstetler introduced Senate Bill 34, which aims to ensure that data centers pay their "fair share" for infrastructure.
ATLANTA - A new proposal aims to make sure power companies don’t pass on rising costs to the consumer.
State Sen. Chuck Hufstetler, R-District-52, says Georgians are suffering under crushing energy bills. "We’ve seen our consumer bills go high," he said. "We need to get protection for Georgians."
What is SB 34?
What we know:
Municipalities and utility companies around the state are powering up for what they expect to be a surge of data centers. The massive warehouses use enormous amounts of energy to fuel artificial intelligence. Consumer groups worry increased demand could lead to bigger bills. That’s why Hufstetler introduced a proposal, he says, that would protect consumers. Georgia Senate Bill 34 would require data centers to fully pay to build and operate their own facilities, not pass those costs to customers.
"Any cost from transmission, distribution, construction, anything brought on by data centers, that they would not put any of those costs on the residential customers’ and small businesses’ bills," Hufstetler said.
Connie DiCicco, Legislative Director for Georgia Conservation Voters, an environmental justice advocacy group, supports the measure. "This is a good bill for all Georgians," DiCicco said. "What this does is ensure Georgians are not on the hook for those power bills that are caused by the data centers."
‘Protection for the ratepayers’
What they're saying:
Amy Sharma, executive director of Science for Georgia, said, "it is a protection for the ratepayers of Georgia, to make sure that no matter what gets built for energy generation, they don’t have to pay for it because they’re not going to be using it."
State regulators recently agreed to let Georgia Power add 10 gigawatts, new power plants and other generation resources to the grid by 2031. Spalding Sounty is considering a $3.9-billion data center. But what if they build and the data centers don’t come?
"We don’t want Georgia Power to go out and speculate on getting data centers here, then not come and suddenly there’s this big infrastructure that we’re on the hook for," Hufstetler said.
Georgia Power responds
The other side:
Matthew Kent, a Georgia Power spokesman, sent a statement:
"Residential and small business customers will not pay higher bills due to data centers. The Georgia PSC already has strong authority — reinforced by enhanced large load rules approved last year — to ensure that data centers and other large customers pay the full costs of serving them. Those protections are designed to shield families and small businesses from cost shifting while keeping Georgia competitive for jobs and investment. Because those safeguards are in place, additional statutory requirements for a single class would be duplicative and could limit the Commission’s ability to balance affordability, reliability and growth for all Georgians.
"Georgia is different than other states and markets. The way we are addressing growth is helping us keep costs low for customers — including our multi-year rate freeze in place now and more than $100 in annual savings for families beginning in 2028."
The Source: State Senator Chuck Hufstetler, Connie DiCicco of Georgia Conservation Voters, Amy Sharma of Science for Georgia, and Matthew Kent, a spokesperson for Georgia Power spoke with FOX 5’s Christopher King. Additional information comes from records from the Georgia General Assembly.