ATLANTA — The Georgia House approved a bill Tuesday that aims to protect residential and retail customers from bearing the costs of data centers, but critics said the legislation won’t do enough.
The proposal is the first of several pending data center bills to pass either the House or Senate during this year’s legislative session.
The measure, House Bill 1063, requires electric utilities and new data centers to agree on contract terms that shield other power customers from costs of data center construction and operation.
“This bill is to ensure no family in the state should ever have to choose between keeping their lights on and keeping food on the table because someone else didn’t pay their fair share,” said state Rep. Brad Thomas, R-Holly Springs. “Data centers will pay their own way, period.”
The Public Service Commission, which regulates Georgia Power and other electricity providers, adopted similar rules last year, and Thomas said HB 1063 would make those requirements permanent.
State Rep. Stacey Evans, D-Atlanta, said the bill falls short because it still allows the Public Service Commission to raise electricity rates in response to rising demand from data centers.
“It adds no additional protections for consumers and no cost cutting mechanisms,” said state Rep. Ruwa Romman, D-Duluth. “I want every Georgian to know that this bill will not help with the concerns they brought to us. It simply codifies the status quo.”
The House passed HB 1063 with a 159-5 vote, and it now goes to the state Senate, which is considering its own customer protection proposal. Senate Bill 34 would prohibit costs from data center fuel generation and transmission from being included in residential electricity rates.