PSC deadline arrives for Georgia Power’s 3.2-gigawatt OpenAI data center contract

Georgia Power and OpenAI are expected to close a deal on Wednesday that will see the monopoly utility provide electricity for a 3.2 gigawatt hyperscale data center planned for Effingham County.

The deal requires the approval from the staff at the Georgia Public Service Commission, a hurdle Georgia Power nearly tripped over earlier this month.

Under a rule the commission passed in April 2025, Georgia Power must provide the PSC all new contracts with data centers over 100 megawatts at least 30 days before execution. Last year’s rule states that the PSC staff can file objections to a contract and “the company and commission staff will work together in good faith to resolve any such objections.”

As that Aug. 14 deadline approached, PSC staff did have objections. To buy itself time to resolve the issue, Georgia Power pushed the review timeline back by 12 days. The review now ends Wednesday, Aug. 26.

Under commission rules, if staff files an objection, the contract shall be approved if the commission takes no action within 30 days after the staff’s filing.

Patty Durand, a critic of the Republican-led PSC who founded the group Georgians for Affordable Energy, points out that the next meeting of the PSC energy committee is Aug. 27, a day after the deadline.