Georgia Votes Tuesday on the Regulators Who Price Data Center Power

Georgia votes on November 3, 2026 for two of the five seats on the Georgia Public Service Commission, the elected body that regulates Georgia Power. In District 3, Commissioner Peter Hubbard, a Democrat, faces Republican Fitz Johnson. In District 5, Democrat Shelia Edwards faces Republican Josh Tolbert. The nominees are confirmed by the Secretary of State’s official results. Hubbard was unopposed in the May 19 Democratic primary with 944,474 votes. Johnson won the Republican primary with 50.19 percent, 389,718 votes to Brandon Martin’s 386,771, a margin of 2,947 votes, and a recount page on the same site, still marked unofficial, shows a 3,042 vote margin. Edwards won the Democratic primary outright with 55.69 percent. Tolbert won the June 16 Republican runoff with 59.76 percent over Bobby Mehan. Ballotpedia also lists Libertarian Thomas Blooming in District 5 and says a December 1 runoff follows if no one wins a majority there. FOX 5 Atlanta lists four candidates. PSV could not open the Secretary of State’s candidate list, so the Libertarian line is unconfirmed here.

The commission’s own site lists the current members as Chairman Jason Shaw of District 1, Alicia M. Johnson of District 2, Hubbard of District 3, Vice Chairman Lauren “Bubba” McDonald of District 4 and Stan Wise of District 5. Ballotpedia reports a 3 to 2 Republican majority and says Democrats would take a 3 to 2 majority if Hubbard and Edwards both win, while a win by either Republican keeps the current majority. Party labels come from Ballotpedia and the primary ballots, not from the commission’s site.

The commission does not approve data centers. It approves the power plants built to serve them and decides who pays. On December 19, 2025, according to a Southern Company Form 8-K filed that day, the commission approved a settlement certifying all 9,885 megawatts Georgia Power requested from its 2029 to 2031 all-source procurement and supplemental resources. The company-owned projects carry about $16.3 billion of projected capital investment, about $14 billion of it in 2026 through 2029. In the same settlement, Georgia Power agreed that its next base rate case will apply at least $556 million a year of incremental large load revenue as downward pressure on rates in 2029, 2030 and 2031, which the company equates to $8.50 a month for a typical residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt hours. Local reporting by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and others says the vote was 3 to 2 and that a February 2026 motion to reconsider failed by the same margin. PSV did not read the commission’s vote record.

The demand behind that build is in Southern Company’s second quarter 2026 Form 10-Q. Across its utilities, it reports large load contracts with data centers and other customers of about 11 gigawatts reviewed by state commissions, plus about 5 gigawatts agreed and awaiting review, each contract over 100 megawatts. About 13 gigawatts of those contracts carry minimum duration terms, termination payments and collateral or guarantee requirements, and some require customers to contribute to construction costs. Those are system-wide figures, not Georgia alone. At Georgia Power specifically, the filing says weather-adjusted commercial sales rose 7.4 percent in the second quarter, largely driven by data centers. The next decision is already open: on June 9, 2026, under its 2025 integrated resource plan, Georgia Power issued a request for proposals for 2,000 to 6,000 megawatts of capacity with in-service dates in 2032 and 2033. Whoever wins Tuesday will help decide that certification and the rate case that applies the $556 million commitment.

For an owner, lender or developer with Georgia data center exposure, the useful product is a regulatory exposure file, refreshed after Tuesday and at every docket filing. Inputs: each asset’s or site’s Georgia Power service status and contract terms, the commission’s dockets for the 2032 and 2033 capacity request and the next base rate case as they open, Southern Company’s 8-Ks and 10-Qs, and the certified election results. Output: one row per asset showing the contracted load, the minimum bill and termination terms that apply, the open docket that could change its cost or timing, the next filing date, and what changed since the last run, with each line linked to the record it came from.

An AI assistant can read new filings on a schedule, extract the dates, megawatts and dollar figures, and flag anything that touches a listed asset, quoting the source. A utility or regulatory consultant reviews the extraction, and the asset management or development head approves any change to the power cost, energization date or budget assumptions in the model. The assistant does not forecast votes or rates. It keeps the record current and cited so the people who do make that call are not working from campaign summaries.