Georgia voters on Tuesday took the board that approves Georgia Power’s rates away from Republicans for the first time in about three decades. Peter Hubbard won re-election and Shelia Edwards won a new seat, both by double digits, giving Democrats a 3-2 majority on the Public Service Commission starting in January.
For Black households, the stakes sit in the monthly bill. A national study of 65,000 census tracts, from researchers at Binghamton University and California State University, San Bernardino, found households in majority-Black tracts spend an average of 5.1% of income on energy, against 3.2% for the average American household. The researchers pointed to older housing and a higher share of renters who cannot make efficiency upgrades themselves.
Hubbard beat Fitz Johnson by 12.8 points. Edwards beat Josh Tolbert by 10.6. Democrats were outspent: Republicans raised more than $1 million combined, Democrats under $600,000, and outside groups put about $3 million behind Tolbert. The race turned on power bills. Georgia Power has raised rates repeatedly, and the Vogtle nuclear expansion that drove much of it ran $17 billion over budget and took 15 years.
Edwards put it in household terms. “Everyone said the same thing: The utility bill is too damn high,” she said, and: “You have to figure out whether you pay for your medication or whether you pay Georgia Power.” She campaigned on stopping rate increases and ending winter and summer shutoffs.
The new majority plans an “affordability docket” to examine what households can actually pay, a look at how the cost of serving data centers is divided, and action on disconnections in extreme weather. Georgia Power says residential customers are protected: “Large load users are signing contracts that protect residential and commercial rate payers.” Its OpenAI contract, though, was entirely redacted in public filings. Governor-elect Keisha Lance Bottoms has called for pausing new data center approvals until consumer protections are in place.
There is a history here. In 2022, U.S. District Judge Steven Grimberg ruled that electing commissioners statewide dilutes Black voting power, because Black voters in a majority-white state could not elect the candidates they preferred. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals later overturned that ruling and the statewide system stayed. Black voters never got the remedy a judge said they were owed. They got this result through the ballot box instead.
Limits remain. Base rates are frozen through 2028, so relief will not arrive on the next bill. “There’s a long laundry list of things that need to be looked into,” Hubbard said. Emory University’s Kristin Phillips told Grist not to expect “immediate effects on our wallets.” But a commission that answers to ratepayers instead of the utility is the change that makes lower bills possible. Edwards and Hubbard now have to deliver it, starting with the affordability docket when the new majority is seated in January.
Have your say