Three environmental organizations—the Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club, and Southern Alliance for Clean Energy—submitted a formal objection this week to the Georgia Public Service Commission regarding Open AI’s contract for electric service with Georgia Power.
The groups challenged Open AI’s request for an additional 3.2 gigawatts of power and raised concerns about the procurement process. Key issues cited include potential cost-shifting risks to existing ratepayers, heavily redacted contract language that prevents public scrutiny, and questions about whether the PSC is enforcing its own rules designed to protect current customers from bearing infrastructure costs for new large customers.
According to the advocates’ letter, the magnitude of the power demand—potentially representing the largest single customer ever added to Georgia’s electric system—makes adequate cost-recovery protections essential. They argued that if the contract fails to ensure Georgia Power recovers all costs associated with serving this customer, existing ratepayers could be left responsible for billions of dollars in infrastructure investment.
The organizations called on the PSC to reject the contract unless it includes more enforceable protections for Georgia Power ratepayers. They also urged the commission to conduct proceedings with greater transparency and accountability. Advocates emphasized that the complete redaction of the contract prevents the public from understanding the potential financial implications and energy impacts of what could be the largest data center project in state history.
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