Georgia Power has secured regulatory approval for a contract to supply OpenAI’s planned project in Effingham County, Georgia, adding 3,200 megawatts of potential new electricity demand to one of the fastest-growing large-load markets in the United States.
The agreement, approved through the Georgia Public Service Commission’s regulatory process, requires OpenAI to cover the full cost of infrastructure needed specifically to serve the project, according to Georgia Power.
OpenAI has also committed to make as much as 1,000 MW of its demand flexible. That would allow Georgia Power to curtail power deliveries to the facility during periods of high system demand, potentially reducing the amount of new generation capacity the utility needs to build solely to accommodate load growth.
The scale of the contract illustrates how artificial intelligence and data center development are reshaping US electricity demand. A 3.2-GW load is comparable to the output of several large conventional power plants and represents a substantial addition to Georgia Power’s system.
Georgia Power said revenues from OpenAI and other large-load customers already announced, together with projected additional growth, are expected to generate approximately $950 million in annual savings for customers beginning in 2029.
Over the 2029-2031 period, the utility projects total customer benefits of $2.847 billion.
For a typical residential customer consuming 1,000 kilowatt-hours per month, Georgia Power now expects the benefit to reach at least $15 per month, or $180 annually, beginning in 2029. That is up from a previous commitment of $102 per year announced in December 2025.
The projections are significant as utilities across the US face questions over whether rapidly expanding data center demand will force existing customers to shoulder the cost of new transmission, generation and grid infrastructure.
Georgia Power and state regulators have attempted to address that concern through a framework governing large-load customers, including requirements intended to protect existing customers from infrastructure costs associated with new data centers and other major industrial users.
The OpenAI agreement follows a July 2025 freeze on Georgia Power base rates and a separate plan approved in May 2026 to reduce overall rates.
Georgia is becoming an increasingly important market for hyperscale computing and artificial intelligence infrastructure, adding to broader electricity demand growth from manufacturing and population expansion. The ability of utilities to secure flexible-load commitments from data centers could become increasingly important as operators try to accommodate gigawatts of new demand without building generation capacity that is needed only during peak periods.
Georgia Power serves approximately 2.8 million customers and is the principal electric utility subsidiary of Southern Company.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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