Commercial and Residential Locksmiths in White, GA

Georgia Power is taking steps to improve its public image around data center infrastructure and rising utility bills in a new, six point pledge to customers.

In the pledge, announced last week, Georgia Power said it’s committed to keeping rates protected and energy affordable, ensuring large energy users like data centers pay their way, investing in a stronger grid, negotiating fairly and transparently for property, and balancing power in a reliable way.

The utility company also promised to put the cost of energy on new users of 100 megawatts or more, and emphasized their latest deals about saving customer $102 a year by 2029, despite the rapid growth in demand for electricity rises for data centers.

“Our Pledge clearly defines and solidifies the strategy that has been working for Georgia Power customers and our communities in recent years,” CEO and President of Georgia Power Kim Greene said. “Our company is built for this moment and, as we build and expand the power grid to serve this growth, we will do so responsibly and in a way which lives up to our longstanding mission to be a Citizen Wherever We Serve.”

Energy experts and activists called Georgia Power’s pledge a public relations campaign that doesn’t guarantee protection or offer anything new. They also called out the enforceability of a related pledge President Donald Trump made around ratepayer protections on Thursday.

On the heels of Georgia Power’s promises, Trump announced the Ratepayer Protection Pledge, that declares companies will pay for all new power delivery infrastructure upgrades to serve data centers, bringing resources and paying the full cost to protect Americans from higher utility bills.

“Customers need more than a pledge that they will be protected,” Brionté McCorkle, executive director of Georgia Conservation Voters, said. “(This customer pledge) repackages existing PSC decisions and company commitments rather than offering meaningful new protections..”

The Atlanta People’s Campaign, which created a “Pledge for Public Trust“ in May that asked all current Georgia Public Service Commissioners and candidates to agree they would not take money from Georgia Power, called the company’s customer pledge “a lie.”

“Our bills need to be lowered significantly,” said Maggie Birgel, spokesperson for the ATL People’s Campaign. “Not through a rate freeze, not through so-called ‘downward pressure’ created by data centers, but by reducing shareholder profits. ... This ‘pledge’ from Georgia Power is nothing but the newest iteration of lies, manipulation, and broken promises we have heard from them for the last five years.”

Utilities Director of the Georgia Public Service Commission Tom Bond said the pledge doesn’t offer anything new.

“(Georgia Power) appears to be describing actions already taken by the Commission,” Bond told the Ledger-Enquirer in an email.

Former Georgia Public Service Commissioner, now an attorney, Bobby Baker said the Customer Protection Pledge was a defense against negative publicity.

“The one thing Georgia Power will defend to the death is their corporate reputation, and I believe they felt they had to publicly respond in some way to show they have not abandoned their current customers for the sake of the new large load data center projects,” Baker said. “The data center rates are secret so no one other than Georgia Power and one or two PSC staffers have any idea what the data centers are actually paying, but know they are paying a lot less than any Georgia Power customer being served on base rates.”

Two pledges and an alliance

The Georgia Power Customer protection pledge says, “our pledge reaffirms our commitment..making sure new large-energy users, like data centers, are paying for the infrastructure built to serve them,” which Baker said is likely regarding the substation and onsite transmission needs for data centers.

On the heels of Georgia Power’s promises, President Donald Trump announced the Ratepayer Protection Pledge on Thursday that declared companies will pay for all new power delivery infrastructure upgrades to serve data centers, protecting Americans from higher utility bills.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and Georgia Power’s parent company, Southern Company, were at the announcement in Washington, D.C. to support the pledge.

“This is a tremendous moment for the Southeast and for our country,” said Chris Womack, chairman, president and CEO of Southern Company, in a news release. “AI and advanced technologies are creating historic opportunities for investment and economic growth, and Southern Company is committed to putting customers first. The President’s Pledge reflects an important principle: growth should strengthen our energy future while protecting rate stability and reliability for the families, businesses and communities we serve.”

Baker called the White House pledge “strictly unenforceable” because it’s only a pledge, not a law.

More than 200 organizations, including Georgia Power, have signed onto the pledge, according to the White House. They state that the pledge has commitments from state regulators and electricity buyers and sellers.

“No White House Ratepayer Pledge has come before the Commission, so we are not familiar with any of those statements and cannot speak to those,” PSC director Bond said in an email.

While Georgia Power and the White House have created pledges, Georgia’s largest business group, the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, is working to make an alliance of data center ready communities.

On Monday, the Georgia Chamber of Commerce created the Georgia Digital Infrastructure Alliance which is intended to bring together business leaders, utilities, community stakeholders to create data center long-term success.

The alliance is looking for participants, but has a playbook available that is meant for county commissioners, planning and zoning staff, development authorities, and more.

The Ledger-Enquirer has not yet been given a copy of the playbook.

“We are still in the early stages of launching and recruiting participants,” Paige Blakemore Communications Coordinator for the Georgia Chamber of Commer said in an email.

They are looking for “industry experts with a shared interest in supporting Georgia’s growing digital economy,” Blakemore said.

Georgia Chamber CEO Chris Clark said in a statement the alliance is “critical to bring together a full ecosystem of stakeholders to ensure our state remains competitive.”

McCorkle called on the Georgia Digital Infrastructure Alliance to disclose more information and said it’s part of the same effort of framing data centers as beneficial as the Georgia Power Customer Pledge.

“The Alliance appears to be part of the same effort to frame rapid data-center expansion as unquestionably beneficial,” she said in an email. “If the alliance is serious about responsible growth, it should disclose who funds and directs it, which companies participate, what policies it is advancing, and how affected communities will have real influence over decisions.”

Georgia Power is a supporter of the Chamber. CEO of Georgia Power Kim Greene is the current vice chair of the Chamber. Both ATL Gas Light (also owned by Southern Company) and Georgia Power are “pinnacle level” members of the Georgia Chamber. Other utilities like Oglethorpe Power, Georgia Transmission and Georgia EMC’s also are listed as pinnacle members.

The Georgia Chamber does not have the cost for pinnacle membership posted on its website.

This story was originally published July 24, 2026 at 3:27 PM.