ATLANTA, Ga. — Two contests near the bottom of Tuesday’s ballot may matter more to Georgia household budgets than many races above them. Voters will fill two seats on the state Public Service Commission, the five-member board that sets rates for Georgia Power and regulates investor-owned gas utilities and some telecommunications services.
Each seat belongs to a district and candidates must live in it, but commissioners are elected statewide, so every voter in Georgia can vote in both races.
Control of the board is on the line. Republicans hold three seats and Democrats two. If Democrats win both Tuesday, they take a 3-2 majority; a Republican win in either race keeps the GOP in charge.
District 3 is a rematch. Democratic Commissioner Peter Hubbard captured the seat in a 2025 special election, winning almost 63% of the vote, and began serving in January. He wants a full six-year term this time. Hubbard, who worked as an energy developer and consultant before joining the board, has campaigned on lowering bills, expanding clean energy, closer review of Georgia Power spending and making data centers and other big users pay the cost of serving them.
His Republican opponent, former Commissioner Fitz Johnson, held the seat from 2021, when the governor named him to the board, until the end of 2025. Johnson, who spent 21 years in the Army and later worked in business, says the panel must balance affordable rates with reliability and economic growth, and he has defended existing rules meant to shield homeowners from data center costs.
District 5 has no incumbent on the ballot. Stan Wise, a former commissioner, has held the seat since a September appointment to complete Republican Tricia Pridemore’s term, and he is not running. Democratic nominee Shelia Edwards, who works in communications and community advocacy, wants a more transparent, consumer-focused commission, more access to rooftop solar and data centers paying the full price of infrastructure built for them. Republican nominee Josh Tolbert, an engineer by training who owns a small business, says commissioners should take a hard look at utility forecasts and big construction plans, and that data centers should cover the extra costs they bring.
The backdrop is a grid build-out. Georgia Power is preparing to add nearly 10 gigawatts of capacity, most of it aimed at hyperscale data centers, while bills for many customers rose by more than $500 a year between 2023 and this past summer because of fuel, storm recovery and Plant Vogtle costs. Base rates for Georgia Power are frozen until at least 2028 under a commission decision, though the fuel and storm pieces of a bill can still change.
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