CBS News found Georgia Power imposed six rate hikes in three years as data center growth and AI demand intensify concerns over household energy costs.
The rapid buildout of data centers needed to support artificial intelligence is adding new strain to the power grid — and raising concerns that ordinary households may be left paying more for electricity.
In Georgia, CBS News reported that Georgia Power, the state’s largest energy provider, imposed six rate hikes over the past three years. The increases have landed as the state absorbed new demand from data centers and as the Vogtle nuclear power plant came online, making Georgia a closely watched example of the broader energy fight around AI infrastructure.
For some customers, the pressure is already reshaping daily life. Carolyn Kayne, who lives in a 3,000-square-foot home in Atlanta, told CBS News her electric bills have nearly doubled in two years. She said she has turned off heat and water in much of the house and now lives mainly in a smaller apartment area at the back of the home.
“I’m walking around in a ski suit trying to stay warm in the winter,” Kayne said.
Patty Durand, founder of the nonprofit advocacy group Georgians for Affordable Energy, told CBS News that Kayne’s experience is not isolated. “The average bill for an average customer used to be about $150 a month,” Durand said. “The average bill now is $225.”
The debate is not limited to Georgia. The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis has found that new data centers are pushing up utility bills in at least 13 states, according to CBS News. A 2025 Bloomberg analysis cited in the report determined that Americans living near data centers are paying as much as 267% more per month for energy than they did five years earlier.
Data centers require large amounts of electricity to run servers and cooling systems. As AI use expands, demand for computing power has helped fuel a wave of new projects, prompting states and utilities to weigh economic development against grid costs and ratepayer risk.
That tension surfaced this week in Maine, where Gov. Janet Mills vetoed a bill that would have made the state the first to ban construction of new data centers. In a statement explaining the veto, Mills said it was “necessary and important to examine and plan for the potential impacts of large-scale data centers in Maine, as the use of artificial intelligence becomes more widespread.”
Georgia Power has pushed back on the idea that residents are being forced to cover data center costs. Within the past year, the utility announced a rate freeze and agreed to use revenue from large customers, including data centers, to reduce costs for residents. Aaron Mitchell, Georgia Power’s senior vice president for strategic growth, told CBS News that residential customers would not end up paying for the costs tied to large growth, including data centers.
Advocates remain unconvinced that current protections are enough. Durand warned that data centers could add billions of dollars to Georgia electricity rates without stronger safeguards. For customers already facing higher bills, the next test will be whether utilities and state regulators can separate the costs of massive new power users from the monthly bills paid by households.
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