Energy Updates from the Field by Patty Durand

Atlanta, GA – Last October, I was arrested for taking a notebook that Georgia Power labeled “trade secret.” The charge sounded dramatic — and it was. Soon after my arrest, my attorneys[1] contacted the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office to discuss the problems with the charges made against me. As a result of those communications, the DA’s Office advised my attorneys that it agreed that the arrest warrant was deficient because it did not allege the required statutory elements for trade secrets and, furthermore, that the DA’s Office had serious doubts about whether a case based on “trade secrets” even existed. Georgia Power’s own lawyers acknowledged to the DA’s Office that the notebook had not been kept in a secure area and that many of the redactions they claimed as “trade secrets” were not trade secrets at all.

I remained silent at my attorney’s direction, but now that the case has been dismissed I am speaking out because the stakes are too high to stay quiet. This was not about a notebook. This is a story of secrecy, monopoly power, and a pattern of collusion between Georgia Power and the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) that harms everyone.

A Monopoly Unlike Any Other

Georgia Power is a state-created, state-protected monopoly. Georgians cannot choose their utility, cannot shop around, and cannot opt out. We are captive customers by law.

In a competitive market, companies rightly work to protect their intellectual property. But Georgia Power does not operate in a competitive market, and PSC sanctioned secrecy under which it operates far exceeds what other states allow. These secrets include costs, forecasts, contracts, and financial assumptions—the very inputs used to justify state approval for investment decisions and state sanctioned rate increases to customers who have no choice in their utility provider.

The Notebook

The notebook was labeled Georgia Power All Source Review 2025-2029 and it contained costs connected to the largest grid expansion in state history: 10 gigawatts, mostly for speculative data center business, including construction of five new gas plants and 1,000 miles of high-voltage transmission lines across the state of Georgia to deliver that gas to data centers. Billions of dollars in costs for the gas pipeline expansion are not captured in this proceeding, but are coming soon to a gas bill near you.  

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