Power bills, the growth of data centers and Georgia Power’s multibillion-dollar expansion took center stage Tuesday in a debate that featured three Democrats vying for a seat on the Georgia Public Service Commission.
The 30-minute Atlanta Press Club debate at Georgia Public Broadcasting’s Midtown studios saw candidates Craig Cupid, Shelia Edwards and Angelia Pressley jockey for position in the District 5 PSC Democratic primary. With early voting underway in races across the state, whoever emerges will take on the winner of the Republicans’ own three-way contest in November’s general election.
The stakes are high for both parties.
The PSC is the state’s top utility regulator and sets the rates Georgia Power charges customers, plus decides the sources the company uses to generate electricity.
Right now, Republicans hold a narrow, 3-to-2 edge at the PSC, but Democrats have a chance to capture a majority this fall, if they win the District 5 race and hold on to the District 3 seat Commissioner Peter Hubbard secured last year.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
The candidates themselves must live within the district’s boundaries, which stretch across large portions of northwest and west-central Georgia and include parts of western metro Atlanta. But PSC commissioners are elected statewide, so voters across the state will see the District 5 contest on their ballots.
The debate, which was part of the Atlanta Press Club’s Loudermilk-Young Debate Series, did not feature any major fireworks, but there were moments of tension, especially when the discussion turned to the candidates’ qualifications.
The three Democrats have varied career experience, but none has ever held elected office before.
Cupid has an engineering background but most recently worked as an intellectual property attorney. Edwards, who won a Democratic PSC primary in 2022 before the general election was postponed, is a veteran of Atlanta city government and Democratic politics. Pressley, meanwhile, is a business owner and Clark Atlanta University professor.
Pressley, who has stressed her engagement on PSC issues, pressed Cupid to explain why he’s not been a more consistent presence at the commission “advocating … to help us make changes for energy policies?”
Cupid said he did attend a contentious vote in December, when the PSC gave Georgia Power permission to take on an unprecedented expansion of its power plant fleet, mostly to serve data centers. He added that he entered the race late because he didn’t “see anyone qualified enough to run.”
“We need a commissioner who is dedicated and who is for the ratepayer, and that’s who I am,” Cupid added.
Pressley fired back, saying she’s “been there (at the PSC) for the past two years advocating for ratepayers.”
Edwards also faced questions about her background, specifically her technical bona fides.
Cupid asked for details about Edwards’ previous work as a writer with the Kennedy Space Center, where she said she worked closely with NASA engineers. Edwards stopped short of claiming she performed engineering work, but said she played a key role in the aftermath of the Space Shuttle Challenger tragedy, helping the agency with documentation related to the disaster.
“I was very highly involved with the technical side and understanding the engineering terminology,” Edwards said.
Data centers, which have been front and center at the PSC for years now, were also a hot topic.
Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez
Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez
Pressley called the PSC’s decision last year to allow Georgia Power to build a raft of new gas-burning units, batteries and some solar to help power data centers “reckless.”
Georgia Power has pledged the build-out won’t raise residential customers’ rates. The expansion is expected to cost at least $16 billion in capital investments, but according to the PSC’s public interest advocacy staff and others, the build-out carries a projected price tag of $50 billion or more over the life of the power plants.
Pressley said she would try to revoke approval of the new power plants if elected. The PSC’s sign-off on the utility’s data center expansion already faces a legal challenge filed by several environmental and faith-based groups.
Cupid and Edwards also questioned whether the PSC has the right policies in place to make sure residential customers don’t wind up with higher bills as data centers flock to the state. The PSC has approved some updates to Georgia Power’s data center contract terms. The commission’s Republican members have said those will protect other customers from further rate hikes.
Still, Cupid said the data center rules need to be rewritten and that his experience as an attorney means he can read the “fine print” to make sure there aren’t “loopholes you can drive a truck through.”
Edwards questioned the benefits of data centers, saying she sees most of the facilities heading to “marginalized communities of mostly Black and brown people.”
“They’re not going to Alpharetta or Buckhead or Sandy Springs,” she added.
The candidates seemed to mostly agree that it’s critical for Democrats to win a third seat on the PSC to secure a majority.
“Right now, we have two commissioners who are ratepayer-focused, but two commissioners can’t make a decision,” Cupid said. “Three commissioners can.”
Early voting for the PSC District 5 contest and other primary races runs through May 15, with Election Day set for May 19. If none of the candidates receive a majority of the vote, the top two vote-getters will face off in a runoff in June.
A note of disclosure
This coverage is supported by a partnership with Green South Foundation and Journalism Funding Partners. You can learn more and support our climate reporting by donating at AJC.com/donate/climate.
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