Georgia Power says a newly approved contract to provide electricity to OpenAI’s massive data center project in Effingham County will ultimately help lower costs for residential customers, but consumer and environmental advocates say significant questions remain about the unprecedented growth of data centers and how their costs will be tracked.

The contract, approved through the regulatory process with the Georgia Public Service Commission, calls for Georgia Power to provide as much as 3,200 megawatts of new electric demand to OpenAI. The planned facility would be the largest individual electricity user in Georgia, with power demand roughly comparable to the output of three nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle.

Georgia Power Predicts $950 Million In Annual Savings

Georgia Power says OpenAI will pay the full cost of infrastructure necessary to serve its project. OpenAI has also agreed to make as much as 1,000 megawatts of its demand flexible, meaning Georgia Power could reduce power supplied to the facility during periods when electricity demand across the system is particularly high.

More broadly, Georgia Power says revenue from OpenAI and other new large-load customers — primarily data centers and manufacturers — is projected to produce approximately $950 million per year in savings beginning in 2029.

For a typical residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt-hours per month, Georgia Power says that translates into at least $15 per month, or $180 per year, in savings beginning in 2029. That’s an increase from the $102 in annual savings the company had projected in December. The company projects total customer benefits of $2.847 billion between 2029 and 2031.

Georgia Power CEO Kim Greene says the company’s strategy is for data centers to pay more so families and small businesses can pay less.

But $15 Doesn’t Necessarily Mean Bills Drop $15

There is an important distinction in Georgia Power’s $15 figure.

Reporting by WABE notes that the commitment represents an offset or “downward pressure” on future rates. It does not necessarily mean customers’ electric bills in 2029 will literally be $15 lower than they are today. If other costs cause rates to increase by then, the projected large-load revenue would offset at least $15 per month of what customers otherwise would have paid.

That distinction is particularly significant because the savings don’t begin until 2029, when Georgia Power’s rates are next scheduled to be reset.

Critics Say More Protections Are Still Needed

Critics acknowledge that the final agreement contains stronger protections than initially proposed, but they remain concerned about whether residential customers could eventually shoulder costs associated with Georgia’s rapidly expanding data-center industry.

One significant new safeguard addresses what happens if a data center shuts down or leaves Georgia before costs associated with serving it have been recovered. Under the agreement, those remaining costs would be assigned to other data centers and large customers rather than residential customers and small businesses.

Bob Sherrier with the Southern Environmental Law Center called the agreement a step in the right direction but said regulators need to carefully track costs associated with data centers to make sure the protections actually work.

Critics Also Question Secrecy Surrounding The Deal

Transparency has emerged as another major issue.

Although regulators have been able to examine the agreement, the version of the OpenAI contract originally made available to the public was entirely redacted.

Jeffrey Beauvais with the coastal environmental organization One Hundred Miles has criticized that lack of disclosure, arguing that the public is essentially being asked to trust Georgia Power and regulators without being able to independently examine the contract’s terms.

As part of the agreement with PSC staff, Georgia Power agreed to provide a public summary of the OpenAI contract and summaries of future data-center contracts, providing at least some additional information for public review.

Critics have also questioned the regulatory process itself. Under the current system, PSC staff reviews large-load contracts and the full commission does not necessarily take an affirmative public vote approving each individual agreement. Sherrier said there is a disconnect when a decision involving what would become Georgia’s largest single electricity customer can move forward without such a public commission vote.

An Unprecedented Amount Of Electricity

The sheer size of the OpenAI project is one reason the debate has attracted so much attention.

The planned 3,200-megawatt demand is equivalent to the electricity consumption of more than two million homes, according to reporting on the PSC proceedings.

Georgia Power maintains that this enormous new demand can actually benefit existing customers because large users will generate substantial new revenue while paying the costs necessary to connect themselves to the system.

Critics aren’t necessarily disputing that possibility. Their concern is whether all of the long-term generation, transmission, fuel and other system costs created by data-center growth are properly identified and kept away from residential customers — and whether regulators will continue monitoring those costs after contracts are signed.

For Georgia Power customers, the real test will come over the next several years: whether the promised protections work as intended and whether the projected $180-a-year benefit actually materializes when rates are reset in 2029.