Cynthia
Johnson
Igniting Hope for
Georgia State House District 148
Georgia State House District 148
LOWER UTILITY BILLS & DATA CENTERS BUILT RIGHT
Your Power Bill Is Too High — And That's Not an Accident
I have lived in this district my entire life. I know what it means to open a Georgia Power bill and feel your stomach drop. I know what it means to watch your neighbors choose between keeping the lights on and keeping food on the table. And I know that what is happening to our utility bills is not the result of bad luck or rising costs — it is the result of decisions made by regulators who are not held accountable, in processes that most of us never get to see.
That changes when I represent you in Atlanta.
How Did We Get Here?
Georgia's Public Service Commission — the PSC — is the five-member body that regulates Georgia Power and sets the rates you pay every month. Over the last three years, the PSC has approved six rate increases requested by Georgia Power, resulting in higher residential bills averaging more than $500 per year. Georgia Power now earns more profit per customer than any other utility company in the United States — over a billion dollars in excess profit between 2022 and 2024. The second-highest utility earns 30% less per customer than Georgia Power.
And yet Georgia Power disconnects 10% of its customer base every single year — ten times the national average. Georgia is one of only ten states in the country with no state or utility-funded bill assistance program. We are leaving our most vulnerable residents completely exposed while the company that serves them posts record profits.
How did this happen? In part, because the people making these decisions have no energy expertise — not a single current PSC commissioner has a background in energy. And in part, because the PSC operates with almost no public transparency, while all five current commissioners have received campaign funding from Georgia Power and its lawyers. They are not independent regulators. They are, in practice, Georgia Power's allies.
The Plant Vogtle nuclear expansion is the most vivid example of what unchecked regulatory failure looks like. Georgia Power promised ratepayers a 2–3% rate increase. The final bill came in at approximately $36 billion — $15 billion over budget — and produced the largest single rate increase in Georgia history at 23.7%. For roughly 10% of what Vogtle ultimately cost, the same amount of electricity could have been generated another way. Ratepayers absorbed every dollar of the overrun.
Data Centers: Who's Getting the Deal — and Who's Paying for It?
Right now, a hyperscale data center is going into construction in our district. This is one of the largest data center projects in the country — and our community found out about it with almost no notice, no completed environmental review, and no public input that meant anything.
To attract data center business, Georgia Power requested — and received — PSC approval to double the size of Georgia's grid capacity, the largest grid expansion in the nation. The cost of that expansion falls on residential customers. The data centers pay a deeply discounted rate — often as low as 3 to 6 cents per kilowatt hour, while you pay 12 to 15 cents. Their rates can be locked in for 10 to 20 years through special negotiated agreements, meaning that when generation costs rise — as they have — you absorb the increase and they pay the same discounted price they negotiated in a backroom years ago.
To power this expanded grid, Georgia Power simultaneously pushed through approval to expand fossil fuels faster than any other state in the country. Solar is only 7% of Georgia's energy mix. We rank 43rd in the nation in rooftop solar — despite living in one of the sunniest states in America.
The company behind this project — Red Wolf DCD Properties LLC — was formed in 2025 and has disclosed almost nothing about its ownership structure, its capital partners, or who the end users of this facility will be. Under Georgia's Open Records Act exemptions for "trade secrets," the full incentive agreement can be shielded from public view. You may be hosting one of the largest data facilities in America and not have the legal right to see the deal that was made in your name.
What Else Is at Stake Locally
This facility is projected to use 25 million gallons of water per day. Many residents in our area rely on wells and small water systems. The toxic wastewater from data center cooling operations has to go somewhere — and without a completed environmental study, no one has answered the question of where. Heat discharged into streams and lakes at this scale is documented to alter local weather patterns and kill aquatic life. The noise from cooling towers, generators, and facility vibrations has been measured from miles away in other communities that host similar facilities.
Emergency services are another real concern. Data center fires — particularly lithium-ion battery fires — require specialized equipment and training that most rural volunteer fire departments simply do not have. The cost of equipping and training our first responders for these risks falls on taxpayers, almost never on the developer.
And the jobs? The data center industry ranks among the lowest job-creation sectors per dollar of public incentive. Once construction is complete, the projected permanent local employment from this facility is approximately 20 jobs — and half the construction jobs will come from out of state.
What I Will Do About It
In the Legislature.
I will introduce or co-sponsor legislation requiring Community Benefit Agreements as a legal condition of receiving state tax credits above a defined threshold. No company — data center, film studio, manufacturer, or anyone else — gets millions in Georgia tax credits without signing a binding agreement that includes:
For the data center already approved in our district, I will lead a strong public oversight effort pressing for sustainable building materials, energy-efficient design, modern cooling systems that minimize water withdrawal, protection of nearby streams and wetlands, and site plans that reduce noise, light pollution, and traffic impacts on neighborhoods, schools, and churches.
I will advocate for rural counties to have data center-specific zoning categories — with explicit standards for setbacks, noise, lighting, water, and utility impact — because without them, counties are left negotiating on weak legal ground.
On Utility Bills.
I will support reform of the PSC oversight process to increase transparency and end the practice of utility companies funding the campaigns of the regulators who approve their rates. I will push for residential rate structures to be decoupled from the preferential industrial rates negotiated for mega-power users, so that families in our district are not subsidizing the electricity bills of some of the wealthiest technology corporations in the world.
Our residents deserve to participate in the digital economy — not just host it. If our district is providing the land, the water, the grid capacity, and the community infrastructure that makes these facilities possible, the people who live here deserve real jobs, real protections, and a real say in how it all happens.
I have lived in this district my entire life. I know what it means to open a Georgia Power bill and feel your stomach drop. I know what it means to watch your neighbors choose between keeping the lights on and keeping food on the table. And I know that what is happening to our utility bills is not the result of bad luck or rising costs — it is the result of decisions made by regulators who are not held accountable, in processes that most of us never get to see.
That changes when I represent you in Atlanta.
How Did We Get Here?
Georgia's Public Service Commission — the PSC — is the five-member body that regulates Georgia Power and sets the rates you pay every month. Over the last three years, the PSC has approved six rate increases requested by Georgia Power, resulting in higher residential bills averaging more than $500 per year. Georgia Power now earns more profit per customer than any other utility company in the United States — over a billion dollars in excess profit between 2022 and 2024. The second-highest utility earns 30% less per customer than Georgia Power.
And yet Georgia Power disconnects 10% of its customer base every single year — ten times the national average. Georgia is one of only ten states in the country with no state or utility-funded bill assistance program. We are leaving our most vulnerable residents completely exposed while the company that serves them posts record profits.
How did this happen? In part, because the people making these decisions have no energy expertise — not a single current PSC commissioner has a background in energy. And in part, because the PSC operates with almost no public transparency, while all five current commissioners have received campaign funding from Georgia Power and its lawyers. They are not independent regulators. They are, in practice, Georgia Power's allies.
The Plant Vogtle nuclear expansion is the most vivid example of what unchecked regulatory failure looks like. Georgia Power promised ratepayers a 2–3% rate increase. The final bill came in at approximately $36 billion — $15 billion over budget — and produced the largest single rate increase in Georgia history at 23.7%. For roughly 10% of what Vogtle ultimately cost, the same amount of electricity could have been generated another way. Ratepayers absorbed every dollar of the overrun.
Data Centers: Who's Getting the Deal — and Who's Paying for It?
Right now, a hyperscale data center is going into construction in our district. This is one of the largest data center projects in the country — and our community found out about it with almost no notice, no completed environmental review, and no public input that meant anything.
To attract data center business, Georgia Power requested — and received — PSC approval to double the size of Georgia's grid capacity, the largest grid expansion in the nation. The cost of that expansion falls on residential customers. The data centers pay a deeply discounted rate — often as low as 3 to 6 cents per kilowatt hour, while you pay 12 to 15 cents. Their rates can be locked in for 10 to 20 years through special negotiated agreements, meaning that when generation costs rise — as they have — you absorb the increase and they pay the same discounted price they negotiated in a backroom years ago.
To power this expanded grid, Georgia Power simultaneously pushed through approval to expand fossil fuels faster than any other state in the country. Solar is only 7% of Georgia's energy mix. We rank 43rd in the nation in rooftop solar — despite living in one of the sunniest states in America.
The company behind this project — Red Wolf DCD Properties LLC — was formed in 2025 and has disclosed almost nothing about its ownership structure, its capital partners, or who the end users of this facility will be. Under Georgia's Open Records Act exemptions for "trade secrets," the full incentive agreement can be shielded from public view. You may be hosting one of the largest data facilities in America and not have the legal right to see the deal that was made in your name.
What Else Is at Stake Locally
This facility is projected to use 25 million gallons of water per day. Many residents in our area rely on wells and small water systems. The toxic wastewater from data center cooling operations has to go somewhere — and without a completed environmental study, no one has answered the question of where. Heat discharged into streams and lakes at this scale is documented to alter local weather patterns and kill aquatic life. The noise from cooling towers, generators, and facility vibrations has been measured from miles away in other communities that host similar facilities.
Emergency services are another real concern. Data center fires — particularly lithium-ion battery fires — require specialized equipment and training that most rural volunteer fire departments simply do not have. The cost of equipping and training our first responders for these risks falls on taxpayers, almost never on the developer.
And the jobs? The data center industry ranks among the lowest job-creation sectors per dollar of public incentive. Once construction is complete, the projected permanent local employment from this facility is approximately 20 jobs — and half the construction jobs will come from out of state.
What I Will Do About It
In the Legislature.
I will introduce or co-sponsor legislation requiring Community Benefit Agreements as a legal condition of receiving state tax credits above a defined threshold. No company — data center, film studio, manufacturer, or anyone else — gets millions in Georgia tax credits without signing a binding agreement that includes:
- Verified local hiring targets
- A workforce training pipeline through South Georgia Technical College
- Documented water and land protections
- A defined infrastructure contribution toward the roads, water, and utilities their operation demands
For the data center already approved in our district, I will lead a strong public oversight effort pressing for sustainable building materials, energy-efficient design, modern cooling systems that minimize water withdrawal, protection of nearby streams and wetlands, and site plans that reduce noise, light pollution, and traffic impacts on neighborhoods, schools, and churches.
I will advocate for rural counties to have data center-specific zoning categories — with explicit standards for setbacks, noise, lighting, water, and utility impact — because without them, counties are left negotiating on weak legal ground.
On Utility Bills.
I will support reform of the PSC oversight process to increase transparency and end the practice of utility companies funding the campaigns of the regulators who approve their rates. I will push for residential rate structures to be decoupled from the preferential industrial rates negotiated for mega-power users, so that families in our district are not subsidizing the electricity bills of some of the wealthiest technology corporations in the world.
Our residents deserve to participate in the digital economy — not just host it. If our district is providing the land, the water, the grid capacity, and the community infrastructure that makes these facilities possible, the people who live here deserve real jobs, real protections, and a real say in how it all happens.
PRIVACY POLICY | TERMS & CONDITIONS
PAID FOR BY CYNTHIA JOHNSON FOR GEORGIA
P.O. Box 42 Cordele, GA 31010 | (229) 805-0094
copyright 2026 Cynthia Johnson for Georgia
PAID FOR BY CYNTHIA JOHNSON FOR GEORGIA
P.O. Box 42 Cordele, GA 31010 | (229) 805-0094
copyright 2026 Cynthia Johnson for Georgia