When the Georgia Public Service Commission scheduled its Sept. 15 administrative meeting in Savannah, it didn’t know Coastal Georgia would become the latest hotspot for the state’s data center boom.
Announcement of OpenAI’s planned $20 billion data center in Effingham County has brought a groundswell of opposition from local residents. And Tuesday, that frustration turned toward the PSC and Georgia Power at the commission's Savannah meeting.
The state’s utility regulator was subject to resident pushback Tuesday in part because it reviewed a critical part of OpenAI’s plans—a utility agreement with Georgia Power--but also as residents seek public outlets to fight the proposal. The commission fielded questions and comments from over 20 residents,
many referencing OpenAI’s data center and other concerns about energy costs.
“The Public Service Commission needs to show it represents the public interest if it expects to earn the public trust,” said Pooler resident Bill Wright, who criticized the process around the PSC’s approval of OpenAI’s utility contract with Georgia Power.
The utility contract passed the PSC's regulatory review in late August, according to a Georgia Power announcement. The item went through PSC review due to a commission rule requiring review of contracts with data centers over 100 megawatts.
The contract stipulates that OpenAI will pay up front for utility upgrades needed to meet its projected 3.2-megawatt demand. Those upgrades include one new gas turbine to Georgia Power’s Plant Mcintosh in Effingham County. An OpenAI spokesperson referenced those commitments in response to a request for comment about resident criticisms at Tuesday's meeting.
The agreement also includes safeguards in the event the center’s energy usage does not meet projections, including required minimum payments by OpenAI and termination costs. The PSC’s review process was able to secure those resident protections in the contract, said PSC Director of Utilities Tom Bond.
“We did protect you in what we could protect you from,” said Commissioner Alicia Johnson, a Savannah resident who spearheaded the PSC meeting in Savannah, said in response to resident concerns.
However, multiple residents raised concerns about Georgia Power’s transparency related to the contract. The contract released to the public was fully redacted, although the PSC has publicly released a summary report on the contract via its website.
Some public commenters, such as Wright, pressed commissioners about the contract being redacted due to classification as a "trade secret." Some proposed the commissioners release the full document, although doing so is outside the purview of the commissioners.
Georgia Power’s Coastal Georgia Spokesperson Joshua Peacock said the contract contains proprietary business information for both the utility and OpenAI. Peacock said release of those materials could hurt Georgia Power's ability to negotiate the best terms for ratepayers, while adding the company must protect OpenAI's commercially sensitive information as it would any other customer.
“Georgia Power operates transparently and in compliance with the rules, regulations and legal statutes regulating our business," Peacock told the Savannah Morning News.
Georgia Power has touted large-load users such as data centers as creating opportunity to lower rates for residential users. The data center companies, such as OpenAI, typically agree to pay beyond the costs to serve the centers.
The company has pledged to provide $15 a month, per customer in “downward pressure” on rates starting in 2029.
“The reason that we're going out there and we're going out and getting these customers is because it's allowing us to put downward pressure on rates and to avoid rate cases,” said Georgia Power’s counsel Brandon Marzo.
Still, Tuesday's meeting was filled with Coastal Georgia residents critical of the data center and current utility rates. Raymond Carver, one Effingham County resident who lives within 1,000 yards of the center's proposed site, said the utility cost savings don't compare to the potential impacts of the data center.
"I feel like I am the one that has to put on my back all of the health and issues that could come up because of this data center, because of decisions y'all are making to save me ($15) a month," Carver said. "That don't equate."
Evan Lasseter is the City of Savannah and Chatham County government reporter for the Savannah Morning News. You can reach him at ELasseter@savannahnow.com.
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Georgia PSC comes to Savannah, faces ire over data centers
