This coverage is made possible through a partnership between Grist and WABE, Atlanta’s NPR station.
During his own victory speech on Election Day this week, Atlanta mayor Andre Dickens took a moment to celebrate some other candidates who’d also just won their races. “For those of you who don’t know why everybody’s excited right now, the new Public Service Commission, PSC races were the first domino to fall for the Republicans,” Dickens said.
Georgia voters handed Democrats a resounding victory this week, replacing two Republican incumbents on the Public Service Commission — the body that has final say over how Georgia Power, the state’s largest utility company, makes electricity and how much it charges. In Atlanta, and elsewhere throughout the state, voters — many of whom are upset over rising utility bills — paid attention to the races that are traditionally misunderstood and ignored.
In the end, Democrats Alicia Johnson and Peter Hubbard unseated Republican incumbents Tim Echols and Fitz Johnson by wide margins, both taking close to 63 percent of the vote. Johnson and Hubbard flipped several counties that voted for President Trump by wide margins in 2020 and 2024. The results could have an impact on power bills, climate, and future elections, as many observers view it as a bellwether for next year’s elections for governor and U.S. Senate.
Georgia State University political scientist Tammy Greer interprets the results as showing that voters cared more about power bills and data centers than party allegiance.
“When civic education is explained in how these offices impact one’s daily life, when we go beyond rhetoric to actual education, perhaps there can be a shift in how the electorate votes,” Greer said. “Those messages have gotten through to the rural voters, and some of them made different choices.”
The current five commissioners — all Republicans — have approved six increases to users’ power bills in the last three years and are now overseeing Georgia Power’s plans to meet rising energy demand from data centers, mostly with natural gas. Republicans will still hold a 3-2 majority when the new commissioners take office in January. But that doesn’t mean the new commissioners can’t change policy, experts said.
“A lot of the stuff that comes before a commission isn’t inherently always partisan because they’re generally making decisions based on the lens of just and reasonable rates, affordability, reliability, based on their statutory mandate,” said Charles Hua, founder of the utility advocacy group PowerLines. “I would be surprised if we see only partisan decisions come out of this commission going forward.”
Next year, the commission is due to tackle the costs of fuel and the cleanup of damage from Hurricane Helene. Georgia Power could request significant increases to customer bills to cover those costs, though earlier this year company officials said rates could stay flat or even decrease. What the commission does beyond those priorities will depend on its chairperson, who sets schedules and determines what issues the commission considers. Because of the Republican majority, the chair will likely still be a Republican, said Katie Southworth of the Clean Energy Buyers Association, a longtime intervener before the Georgia PSC and other utility commissions around the country.
“We can’t say with confidence that votes will go 3-2 every single time,” Southworth said. “Interpersonal dynamics, policy priorities of each commissioner, and the particular lenses through which they view things will impact their voting.” Southworth also emphasized that how well the commissioners get along is typically a key factor in how the commission as a whole operates.
Significant changes to power bills and Georgia Power’s energy mix, which still consists mostly of fossil fuels that emit planet-warming greenhouse gases, will likely be slow in coming, even with commissioners working across party lines.
But the two documents that lay out how Georgia Power will make and deliver power and how much it will charge — the integrated resource plan and the rate case — won’t be submitted for the commission’s input and approval until 2028. With two more elections between now and then there could be even more changes to the makeup of the commission.
One of the new commissioners, Peter Hubbard, was only elected to a one-year term, so he’ll be facing reelection next year. Current commissioner Tricia Pridemore, a Republican, is also up for reelection in 2026.
That will likely be a very different election. Unlike this year, when the PSC was the only statewide race on the ballot, next year Georgians will be voting for a new governor, a U.S. Senate seat, and seats in both the state legislature and U.S. House of Representatives. Those races are already drawing national attention and investment. Georgia has established itself as a swing state, voting narrowly for Biden in 2020 and Trump in 2024 and securing the Democrats’ majority in the Senate in 2020. The party’s hopes for regaining control of the Senate could likely hang on Georgia again in 2026. High power bills and other pocketbook issues could still be top of mind for a lot of voters, Greer said, and that means both parties could learn a lot from Tuesday’s results.
“It will be interesting to see what groundwork the Democrats do to try to capitalize on this,” she said. “And what groundwork does the Republican Party do to try to mitigate what happened.”
Rahul Bali of WABE contributed to this story.
toolTips(‘.classtoolTips3′,’Carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and other gases that prevent heat from escaping Earth’s atmosphere. Together, they act as a blanket to keep the planet at a liveable temperature in what is known as the “greenhouse effect.” Too many of these gases, however, can cause excessive warming, disrupting fragile climates and ecosystems.’);
This story was originally published by Grist with the headline In Georgia, power bills beat out party politics on Nov 6, 2025.
