Staff for the Georgia Public Service Commission approved Georgia Power's contract to supply electricity to OpenAI's planned 20 billion dollar data center campus in Effingham County on Wednesday, August 26. The joint statement was filed roughly an hour before a 4 p.m. deadline to approve or object.
The campus, announced in July, is slated to draw up to 3,200 megawatts. That would make it the single largest electricity user in Georgia, with demand roughly equal to the output of three Plant Vogtle nuclear reactors.
Under the agreement, Georgia Power will not collect revenue shortfalls from other ratepayers if OpenAI or a similar operator terminates service early, and the utility must notify the commission within 15 days of any large data center customer canceling service. Georgia Power also pledged to structure its 2028 rate adjustment to put 15 dollars of downward pressure on the average residential monthly bill, up from a previously promised 8.50 dollars, with new rates taking effect in 2029 and running through 2031.
Georgia Power President and Chief Executive Kim Greene said data centers are paying more so that families and small businesses can pay less. Commission Chairman Jason Shaw said staff attorneys, engineers, and financial analysts secured some of the strongest residential ratepayer protections in the nation. Commissioner Alicia Johnson of Savannah said the deal contains appropriate safeguards. Commissioner Peter Hubbard had earlier questioned whether the contract carried sufficient financial guardrails.
Liz Coyle of Georgia Watch said the projected benefits rest on theoretical assumptions. Bob Sherrier of the Southern Environmental Law Center called the outcome a step in the right direction while saying the episode exposes broader problems with data center contracts.
This is the seventh contract approved under the commission's large load framework. The public version of the OpenAI agreement is fully redacted, though Georgia Power will now file semiannual public portfolio reports and a public contract summary, with the OpenAI summary expected in early September.
Source: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution - https://www.ajc.com/business/2026/08/georgia-power-deal-to-power-openai-data-center-near-savannah-is-approved/