The approval came from staff, not from the five commissioners
On August 26, 2026, the staff of the Georgia Public Service Commission signed a joint letter with Georgia Power. The letter states that staff does not object to the contract the utility filed on July 27, 2026 to serve OpenAI. WJCL The Georgia Public Service Commission is the state agency that decides what Georgia Power may charge its customers. I will call it the commission from here on. Under a review process the commission adopted in April 2025, Georgia Power files its contracts with very large customers, commission staff read them, and the commissioners themselves step in only when staff objects. WABE Staff raised no objection here, so no commissioner ever voted on the largest electric contract the state has seen.
The customer is an AI data center OpenAI plans to build in Effingham County near Savannah. It is expected to need roughly as much electricity as three of the Plant Vogtle nuclear reactors produce. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution A megawatt measures how much electricity a customer is pulling at one moment, and this site is signed up for 3,200 of them. OpenAI agreed to pay the full cost of the wires, substations and other equipment needed to serve it. It also agreed to make up to 1,000 megawatts of its demand flexible, meaning it will cut its own power use when the utility asks. Georgia Power press release That flexible portion is nearly a third of the site’s maximum draw. How often the cuts can be called, how long they last, and what triggers them are not public. Microgrid Media
What Georgia Power promised to get the letter signed
Georgia Power committed in writing that if a large customer ends its contract early, the utility will not try to recover the lost revenue from residential and small business customers in future rate proceedings. The Current Georgia Power must also tell the commission within 15 days if a large customer walks away before its contract ends. WJCL Utilities Director Tom Bond said the agreement lets the commission decide whether Georgia Power recovers those losses at all, and not merely how. 11Alive Deciding whether means the commission can refuse recovery outright and leave the hole with the company and its shareholders.
Georgia Power large load contract conditions before and after the OpenAI staff review
| What changed | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Residential benefit for a 1,000 kWh customer | About $8.50 a month of downward pressure, $102 a year, promised December 2025 | At least $15 a month, $180 a year, covering 2029 through 2031 |
| Cost of an early departure | General pledge that households would not bear large load growth risk | Written commitment not to seek the revenue deficiency from residential and small business customers |
| Notice when a large load leaves | No notice requirement identified in the sources | Georgia Power must notify the commission within 15 days of an early termination |
| Who decides on recovering a shortfall | Not established by the sources for the six earlier large load contracts | Commission decides whether recovery happens and may direct it to other large load customers |
| Public visibility of terms | Contracts filed with terms redacted, no summary or performance reporting required | Contract still entirely redacted, but public summary due within ten days and semiannual performance reports |
| Who signs off | Staff review under the April 2025 rule, commission votes only if staff objects | Staff did not object, so the five commissioners never voted on this contract |
Who absorbs the loss if a campus goes dark?
If an AI data center closes or leaves the state, the agreement spreads the cost of having served it among other AI data centers and other large customers. That cost does not go to Georgia households and small businesses. WABE A company signing a Georgia contract today is therefore taking on some exposure to whether its competitors keep paying their bills. WABE Maggie Shober, research director at the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, said the letter does not explain how Georgia Power calculates the cost of serving these AI data centers. She said it also does not say what protections apply if a customer leaves or needs less power and the utility cannot find anyone else to take it. CleanTechnica I found no source that says how a loss would be divided among the large customers who remain, and that division is the number a developer would most want to see before signing.
What stays secret in Georgia and what is public elsewhere
The contract is blacked out in full, and Georgia Power spokesman Joshua Peacock said treating customer information as a trade secret is standard practice for the utility. Statesboro Herald The price OpenAI pays, the smallest amount it must pay each month even if it uses less power than it reserved, and any security money it posted are all outside public view. Georgia Power did agree to publish a summary of the OpenAI contract, and that summary is due September 3. Columbus Ledger-Enquirer
Full secrecy is not the national default. The published price sheet of Indiana Michigan Power, which came out of a 2024 settlement with Amazon, Google and Microsoft, states a 12 year minimum term and a minimum bill of 80 percent. Ohio regulators approved an AEP Ohio structure making large AI data centers pay for at least 85 percent of the capacity they reserve for up to 12 years. Energy and Policy Institute In Louisiana, both the customer’s name and the 15 year term of Entergy’s contract to serve Meta are on the record. Energy and Policy Institute The only length figure I found reported for the OpenAI deal comes from a Georgia Power release in July, which put the agreement at 25 years. WSAV
The $15 promise gets tested in 2028
Georgia Power says a typical home using 1,000 kilowatt hours a month should see savings of at least $15 a month starting in 2029. That is up from the $102 a year the company committed to in December 2025. Georgia Power press release Downward pressure is the utility’s own phrase, and it does not mean bills go down, only that any increase is offset by at least that much. WABE Georgia Power’s base rates are frozen through 2028, and in its next rate case, due July 1, 2028, the company must include a minimum estimate of the revenue it expects from large customers. WJCL A rate case is the proceeding where a utility asks to change what it charges. The commission, its staff and outside groups argue over every number. In its next one, due July 1, 2028, Georgia Power must include a minimum estimate of its large load revenue.
Whether the savings appear depends on large customers actually showing up and paying. A Georgia Power filing dated August 17 reported 84,800 megawatts in its economic development pipeline as of June 30, 80,100 megawatts of that being large load projects. Columbus Ledger-Enquirer A pipeline is a list of possible projects, not a stack of signed contracts. The company projects about $950 million a year of savings beginning in 2029, reaching $2.847 billion over 2029 through 2031. Georgia Power press release
Does the next contract go through the same door?
Commissioner Peter Hubbard said the OpenAI load is 32 times the size of the threshold that makes a contract a large load contract, and that something this big deserves special scrutiny. Statesboro Herald Under the Georgia rule, a customer drawing more than 100 megawatts must cover its own cost of electric service. The South Shore Press Hubbard named the questions he asks about a contract like this. He starts with whether the customer put up enough money in advance to cover Georgia Power’s costs if the project ends early. Statesboro Herald He also asks how power plants built for that customer could be reassigned to someone else, and whether the minimum monthly payments cover what it actually costs to serve the site.
Chairman Jason Shaw said at the August 27 hearing that he believed this was the first time a contract had been reviewed without any legal violation being alleged. He added that the process could set a precedent. 11Alive The Sierra Club and the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy said staff cleared the contract without a direct vote by the commission. They asked that commissioners be given a way to weigh in on future contracts. CleanTechnica The next hyperscale developer filing in Georgia may not get the same quiet staff route, since clean energy groups are pressing the commission to review these contracts itself.
Power deliveries to the Effingham County site are scheduled to begin in phases in 2028 and run through 2032. WSB-TV The protections signed on August 26 govern a customer that will not reach full size until years after the 2028 rate case is decided.