Democrats Peter Hubbard and Sheila Edwards won seats on the Georgia Public Service Commission in the November 2026 election, giving the party a majority on the five-member body for the first time in about 30 years, FOX 5 Atlanta reported on November 5. The new commissioners take office January 1, 2027. The report did not give vote totals.
The commission sets electric rates for Georgia Power customers and oversees how the utility plans for new demand, including large loads from data centers. Hubbard and Edwards campaigned on capping Georgia Power rate increases and increasing regulatory oversight of the utility. Residents have voiced frustration over rising electric bills, and neighborhood disputes over high-voltage facilities have appeared across the state.
Advocates argue that residential customers carry costs tied to energy-intensive data centers. Sacha Haworth of The Tech Oversight Project made that case in the report. Edwards backed a proposed data center moratorium that Governor-elect Keisha Lance Bottoms has championed. Emory University's Kristin Phillips said Georgians are beginning to question whether data centers deliver the economic growth they want.
Phillips cautioned that structural changes to how the commission makes decisions will take time and that some effects may not appear for several years. A separate Law360 headline the same day said the new majority could bring tougher rules for big power users such as data centers, with experts noting that legal limits and the slow pace of energy planning may blunt near-term impact. The Georgia legislative session begins January 11, 2027, and is expected to take up data center policy.
Source: FOX 5 Atlanta -- https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/democrats-win-georgia-utility-board-seats-after-data-center-backlash