Georgia’s approach is straightforward: keep power reliable and affordable, make growth pay its way, and plan for the future with clear eyes. The Public Service Commission’s (PSC) record reflects that mission, and this year especially we doubled down on it.
This year, the PSC froze base rates to give families and small businesses stability. We put a rule in place so large power users—especially data centers—cover the grid costs they create instead of shifting them onto homeowners. And we advanced an Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) that keeps every viable resource on the table and invests in new and existing infrastructure, transmission lines and more. That’s common-sense regulation—and it lines up with President Trump’s energy-abundance agenda: more American energy, built faster, at a lower cost to consumers.
Start with the rate freeze. Household budgets are tight, and employers need predictability. Holding base rates steady gives ratepayers, a bill they can plan around while we execute long-term upgrades. It’s not flashy; it’s responsible, conservative policy that’s good for the ratepayer, their families and our economy. Stability at the meter supports stability at the kitchen table—and it also tells businesses Georgia is a good place to build and hire.
At the same time, we’re making sure growth pays its way. Data centers are part of today’s economy, but their power needs are enormous. New generation, transmission, and interconnection equipment don’t appear out of thin air, and they’re not free. Our rule is simple: if a big user drives those costs, that big user covers them up front. That protects families from subsidizing corporate buildouts, encourages smarter siting and design, and keeps the grid ready for tomorrow without sending today’s customers the bill. It’s pro-growth and pro-consumer—the same balance President Trump calls for when he says welcome investment, but don’t make working families foot the tab.
Planning ahead is just as important. The 2025 IRP is our blueprint to keep the lights on tomorrow without punishing customers today. It weighs what works: nuclear, coal and natural gas as well as renewables where they make economic sense; storage that helps at peak times; and demand-side tools that reward efficiency. It also invests in the poles and wires, storm hardening, and cyber defenses that make the whole system resilient.
We build what works and retire what doesn’t, always keeping reliability and the lowest reasonable cost in view.
Every major decision the PSC makes happens in the open—public hearings, sworn testimony, expert analysis, participation from consumer advocates, and extensive filings anyone can read. Rate design, resource planning, storm recovery, and cost allocation are tested in that forum because customers deserve facts and accountability, not slogans. That’s how we landed a rate freeze that helps families right now, a data-center rule that protects them tomorrow, and an IRP that keeps the lights on for decades.
These choices fit into a bigger national picture. An America First energy policy is vital to our national security. When America produces, processes, and builds at home, we help safeguard our country’s defenses as well as our supply chains. That’s not theory; it’s what we’ve learned the hard way. President Trump’s energy vision—unleash domestic production, fix permitting, rebuild a made-in-America supply chain—isn’t just about lower bills. It’s about a stronger country that can power its economy and protect its people. Georgia’s focus on planning, rate stability, and user-pays for big new loads supports that goal.
Critics say we should rush to a single favored technology and squeeze out everything else. That’s risky and expensive. Intermittent resources have a role, but they still need firm, dispatchable power behind them—especially in extreme weather. Pretending otherwise leads to blackouts and bill spikes. Others skip over where much of the “green” supply chain lives today: critical minerals, batteries, and solar components concentrated in China, and fuels leveraged by bad actors like Russia. Offshoring our energy backbone to adversaries isn’t clean; it’s dangerous. A balanced portfolio built here—nuclear, gas, renewables that pencil out, storage that works, and a hardened grid—is cleaner over time, more reliable day to day, and safer for America.
A utility regulators’ job is simple to say and hard to do: protect ratepayers while we power a growing state. Freezing base rates gives families breathing room. Making data centers pay for the upgrades they trigger shields homeowners from unfair costs.
Advancing an “all-of-the-above” approach in Georgia means invest on what works in both the near- and long-term, based on data and facts, not talking points or feelings.
It’s a pro-family, pro-growth, pro-America energy policy. It’s also proof that when you follow the principles President Trump laid out—abundance, speed, and common sense—you can keep bills steady, power the economy, and strengthen national security at the same time.
Tricia Pridemore is a Commissioner at the Georgia Public Service Commission.
