Good Move from ……… Georgia?

I am referring to the, "Peach State," and not the former Soviet Republic on the Black Sea.

Their PUC just issued a rule allowing Georgia Power to charge data centers higher rates for electricity.

Considering the negative externalities of data centers, this is a very good idea:

Metro Atlanta is one of the hottest destinations in the country for tech companies to build data centers, hulking warehouses filled with servers that power web services, cryptocurrency transactions and increasingly, artificial intelligence.

But the facilities themselves use huge amounts of electricity, and concern has been growing that their demands could strain the grid and drive up costs for residential customers and other businesses.

On Thursday, the Georgia Public Service Commission approved changes to Georgia Power’s rules and contract provisions commissioners say will make sure data centers pay their fair share and keep other customers from being saddled with their costs.

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The changes were proposed by Georgia Power in December and apply to new customers that use more than 100 megawatts of electricity.

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Already, Georgia Power has been approved to build new oil- and gas-burning units, add massive battery storage systems and buy power from coal and gas plants in other states, largely to meet a wave of data-center demand the company contends is coming.

Those projects, along with building new transmission lines to deliver the power, carry enormous costs, which some fear could be passed on to the company’s other customers, whose rates have shot up dramatically in recent years. Since late 2022, the PSC has approved a series of rate increases that have pushed the average Georgia Power customer’s bill up by about $43, according to data from the company.

Nice to see the big players being made to paid some of the costs that they inflict on the rest of us.  (That's the definition of, "Negative Externalities.)