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The commission will vote on Georgia Power's 2025 Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), which calls for a huge increase in electric generating capacity to accommodate the needs of “large-load� customers, mostly the rapid growth of power-hungry data centers across the state.

While the IRP calls for up to 8,500 megawatts of additional capacity, an agreement Georgia Power and the PSC's Public Interest Advocacy (PIA) Staff reached late Wednesday (July 9) concedes the exact amount of power the utility would need to meet that growing demand is hard to nail down.

“The load forecast is largely driven by the anticipated growth from only one customer class for which there is a lack of historic information to inform many of the assumptions used in the forecast,� the 13-page agreement states.

Representatives of the PIA staff told commissioners at a hearing in May that Georgia Power overestimated the additional generating capacity it would require to supply the data centers. Environmental advocates echoed that sentiment on July 10.

“While we didn't contest the fact that Georgia Power will see an increase in load ... the amount of megawatts might not materialize as quickly or as steeply as the company projected,� said Curt Thompson, a lawyer representing the Sierra Club, the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, and the Natural Resources Defense Council.

“If this speculative demand fails to materialize, [ratepayers] will be left paying billions of dollars in stranded assets,� added lawyer Juan Estrada representing the Georgia Conservation Voters Education Fund.

In the agreement, Georgia Power committed to continuing quarterly reports to the commission on any new projects proposed by large-load customers and how much power each of those projects would consume. The company also agreed to update its projected load forecasts this October, in February 2027, and as part of the next IRP it will file in 2028.

Several who testified July 10 also asked the commission to order Georgia Power to pursue a more robust “demand-side management� (DSM) plan aimed at reducing the need for the amount of additional power-generating capacity the utility is seeking.

“The cleanest, cheapest form of energy is that which is not produced,� said Liz Coyle, executive director of the statewide consumer advocacy group Georgia Watch.

Commissioner Tim Echols joined several witnesses in criticizing Georgia Power for abandoning an earlier commitment to beef up its demand-side efforts.

“Your reputation is golden,� Echols told Steve Hewitson, the lawyer representing Georgia Power at the hearing. “You jeopardized that.�

But Hewitson said Georgia Power is stepping up its demand-side management program, proposing to increase its annual spending from $90 million in 2021 to $160 million.

“DSM advocates should be happy about this,� he said.

Hewitson urged commissioners to approve the agreement without changes.

“No one ever gets everything they want in a proceeding,� Commissioner Tricia Pridemore said. “It is a compromise.�

But representatives of several environmental groups who spoke July 10 asked the PSC not to approve portions of the IRP that call for the company to continue operating coal-burning power plants at Plant Bowen near Cartersville and Plant Scherer near Macon and upgrading existing natural gas units.