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Georgia Public Service Commissioner Tricia Pridemore is resigning four months from the end of her term. In an email to Governor Brian Kemp, she said her last day will be Sept. 4.
“It has been an honor to serve Georgia in this position,” she wrote.
She declined to provide further comment on her resignation. Kemp is expected to appoint a replacement to the seat to finish her term, until the winner of November’s election is sworn in next year.
Pridemore, a Republican, was appointed to the commission in February 2018, then won election to a six-year term later that year. She was due to face reelection in 2024, but no PSC elections
were held that year due to a voting rights lawsuit that was working its way through the courts at the time. Pridemore opted not to run for reelection this year, instead launching a bid for U.S. Congress in the 11th District. She finished third in the May primary.
In a statement, commission chair Jason Shaw touted Pridemore’s work beyond Georgia, including a year as head of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners.
“I can’t thank Commissioner Pridemore enough for her expertise in energy and her expertise in public policy that she leveraged here at the PSC for the benefit of all Georgians,” he wrote. “To say she will be missed is an understatement.”
During debates for the 11th District primary race, Pridemore took criticism from her opponents for some of her decisions as a commissioner, most notably a series of rate hikes for Georgia Power customers. Frustration over rising energy bills boiled over during the 2025 election for two seats on the commission, helping two Democrats unseat Republican incumbents and changing the makeup of a commission that had been all-Republican for two decades.
Pridemore’s seat wasn’t on the ballot that year, but it is this year.
The five-member Public Service Commission regulates utilities in Georgia, including overseeing Georgia Power, the state’s largest electric utility. The commission has final approval over how Georgia Power makes electricity and what it charges.
During her term, Pridemore voted with her fellow commissioners for a number of measures that brought increased scrutiny and criticism to the usually obscure body. The commission approved a three-step rate increase, rate hikes to pay for the new nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle, and a fuel rate increase. The move raised customers’ bills six times in a three-year period. Late last year, commissioners approved a massive expansion to meet rising energy demand mostly from data centers, much of which will be powered by natural gas, a fossil fuel.
The commission also approved a temporary rate freeze last year and new contract terms designed to shield ordinary Georgians from the costs of serving data centers, though advocates argue those protections don’t go far enough.
This spring, Pridemore and her fellow commissioners approved new rates for fuel and storm costs that resulted in a net decrease in power bills compared to last year.
Pridemore represents District Five, which covers a swath of west Georgia from the Tennessee border down to LaGrange and Thomaston, though commissioners are elected statewide. Republican Josh Tolbert and Democrat Shelia Edwards are running for the seat.
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Georgia utility commissioner Tricia Pridemore quits
