Senate panel rewrites bill protecting Georgians from data centers’ power costs

ATLANTA — Georgia state senators rejected a proposal Tuesday that would have explicitly prevented power companies from passing on data centers’ costs to customers, instead advancing a bill with fewer consumer protections.

The 9-3 vote by the Senate Regulated Industries Committee is the latest round in this year’s battle over rapidly growing data centers, the engines for artificial intelligence technology that require enormous amounts of new electricity capacity in Georgia.

The committee approved legislation that would require electric utilities to write contracts with new data centers that shield other customers from related costs, such as building new transmission lines.