Power Plants in Georgia: Who Owns Them and Who Answers for Them

Georgia produces electricity from nuclear reactors, natural gas units, hydroelectric dams, biomass, landfill gas and a growing number of solar farms. The listings in this directory reflect that mix. Some are large utility stations on a river or reservoir. Others are a paper mill's boiler house, a solar array at a hospital, or a small landfill gas project.

A power plant in Georgia is rarely a public office with a front counter. Most are industrial sites run by a utility, an electric cooperative, a city system or a manufacturer. You will usually deal with the operator's customer service line, not with someone at the gate. The first job is to work out which organisation actually runs the site you care about.

Three bodies shape almost everything. The Georgia Public Service Commission is a five-member elected board. It regulates investor-owned electric utilities, including Georgia Power, and reviews the company's long-range generation plans. The Georgia Environmental Protection Division, part of the Department of Natural Resources, handles air and water permits. Federal agencies cover the rest: the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission licenses most non-federal hydro projects, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission oversees reactors.

Georgia Power, Co-ops and City Systems: Three Ways the State Gets Its Electricity

Retail electric service in Georgia is divided by territory, not by customer choice. Under the Georgia Territorial Electric Service Act of 1973, each area is assigned to a particular supplier. Most households cannot shop around for an electricity provider the way they might in a deregulated state.

Knowing the territory tells you whom to call. The listing for Southern Power's Wansley Combined Cycle Power Plant on Hollingsworth Ferry Road in Franklin is a good example. Southern Power sells electricity wholesale to utilities, not to homes, so a neighbour in Heard County would still call their own utility about a bill or an outage.

The same logic applies elsewhere. A plant's closest neighbours are not necessarily its customers, because the electricity travels over the transmission grid to wherever it is needed.

Metro Atlanta, the Coast and Rural Georgia: How the Listings Differ

Metro Atlanta and the Piedmont

Fulton County has the most listings of any county in the state, but the Atlanta entries look different from a classic generating station. Atlanta Gift Mart Lp, on Spring Street Northwest, appears in the data as a commercial property rather than a utility plant. Much of the power used in the metro area arrives over transmission lines from stations in other counties. Farther east, Mpc Generating on Cherry Hill Road in Monroe sits in Walton County, and the Smarr Energy Center on Rumble Road in Juliette is in Monroe County, a short drive from Macon.

Coastal Georgia and the Port Corridor

Around Savannah, the listings lean toward heavy industry. International Paper Savanna Mill on West Lathrop Avenue and the Kraft entry on Crossgate Road in Port Wentworth are both in Chatham County. Pulp and paper mills commonly make their own steam and electricity. Up the river in Rincon, the Savannah River Mill on Old Augusta Road South sits in Effingham County. Down the coast, the Live Oaks Power Plant on Green Swamp Road in Brunswick anchors Glynn County's entries.

Rural Georgia, the Fall Line and the North Georgia Hydro Belt

Solar has changed the rural map. The Pawpaw Solar Plant on Industrial Road in Butler is in Taylor County. The Decatur Parkway Solar Project near Bainbridge is in Miller County, and the Tri-County Solar Facility in Eatonton is in Putnam County. In Sandersville, Thiele Kaolin on Kaolin Road reflects the clay industry of middle Georgia.

The north of the state has the hydro. Terrora and Tallulah Falls sit in Rabun County. The Allatoona Powerhouse is on Allatoona Dam Road near Cartersville, and Hartwell Lake in Hart County is a federal reservoir on the Savannah River. The Tallassee Hydro Project is listed in Athens, in Clarke County.

What State Law and Permits Mean for a Georgia Generating Site

Every plant in Georgia sits inside several layers of oversight. The Environmental Protection Division issues air quality permits for combustion units and discharge permits for wastewater. It also regulates surface water withdrawals, which matters for any plant that draws cooling water from a river. Coal ash storage is another area the division oversees.

For large utility projects, the Public Service Commission decides whether new capacity is needed. Georgia Power files an Integrated Resource Plan with the commission, and the commission votes on it after public hearings. The best-known recent project is Plant Vogtle in Burke County near Waynesboro. Units 3 and 4 entered commercial operation in 2023 and 2024, adding the first newly built reactors in the country in decades.

Hydro sites follow different rules. Most non-federal dams operate under a federal licence, and the licence sets water release schedules and public access conditions. Corps of Engineers projects such as Allatoona and Hartwell come with public recreation areas, even though the powerhouses themselves are restricted.

One rule affects residents directly. Georgia law requires you to contact Georgia 811 before digging, and that includes digging near utility easements and transmission corridors. The call is free and protects you from hitting a buried line.

Finding and Contacting a Georgia Power Plant: Practical Steps

Start with the county. If you are looking at a plant in Glynn County or Dougherty County, the county name narrows your search and helps you compare it with neighbouring entries. Then follow these steps:

Match the problem to the right office. Billing disputes and outages go to your own utility, and rate complaints can go to the Public Service Commission. Questions about air, water or noise go to the Environmental Protection Division or your county government. Plants do not run walk-in tours, so call ahead and expect security screening if a visit is allowed.

Power plant facilities in Georgia include a mix of federal, state, and municipally owned generation assets that contribute to the region's overall electricity supply. Georgia's energy mix and the number of publicly owned facilities reflect the state's natural resources, regulatory environment, and historical development of its utility infrastructure.

Power Plant locations are available in 104 cities across Georgia. They are spread across 77 counties.

Areas with the highest concentration of power plant locations include Atlanta, Savannah, Augusta, often reflecting proximity to water resources, fuel supply infrastructure, or industrial demand centers.

Residents of Georgia who are customers of a municipal or public power utility can contact their local power authority for billing assistance, energy efficiency programs, and information about planned outages or infrastructure upgrades in their service area.

Power Plant by Counties

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Residents of Georgia who receive electricity service from a publicly owned utility can visit or contact that utility's customer service office to learn about outage reporting, billing options, and energy assistance programs. For information about a specific power generation facility in Georgia, contacting the state's public utility commission is often the best starting point.

Browse Power Plant by county across Georgia to find the nearest location.

Reading the Georgia Listings: County Patterns and Local Context

County lines tell you a lot about what kind of site you are looking at. Richmond County includes the Augusta Veterans Affairs Medical Center - Downtown Solar entry on 15th Street, a reminder that institutions install their own generation. Augusta also has several other listings, so check the street address before assuming two entries are the same site.

Lowndes County covers the Valdosta listing on New Statenville Highway. The entry carries only the city name, so confirm the operator before you rely on it. Dougherty County's Albany entry is a landfill gas project, and Mitchell County's Sowega Power in Baconton shows how generation extends into small farming communities.

The Columbus entry, North Highlands on 1st Avenue, sits in Muscogee County. The Dalton entry, Duke Energy Murray Power Plant on Looper Bridge Road, is in Whitfield County. The Macon entry, Riverwood International Macon Mill, is in Bibb County, and Harllee Branch on Milledgeville Road is in Baldwin County.

Listings are drawn from public records, so names may reflect older owners. Treat the directory as a starting point and verify the current operator directly.

Power Plant Questions Georgia Residents Ask

Several agencies share the work. The Georgia Public Service Commission regulates investor-owned electric utilities such as Georgia Power and votes on their long-range generation plans. The Georgia Environmental Protection Division, part of the Department of Natural Resources, issues air and water permits. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission licenses most non-federal hydroelectric projects, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission oversees reactors like those at Plant Vogtle. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers manages federal dams such as Allatoona and Hartwell. Which body matters to you depends on whether your issue is a bill, a permit or a safety concern.

For most households, no. The Georgia Territorial Electric Service Act of 1973 assigns each area to one supplier, which may be Georgia Power, a member-owned electric membership corporation or a city-run system. Your address determines your provider. The law does allow limited exceptions for some large new loads, but those rarely apply to homes. Natural gas works differently, because Georgia lets customers pick a gas marketer. If you are moving, check your address with the local utility or the Public Service Commission before assuming which company will serve you.

Generating stations are secured industrial sites, and most do not allow walk-in visits. Nuclear, gas and mill-based plants all restrict access. Reservoirs tied to hydro and federal dams are the exception, because the surrounding land is often open for recreation. Allatoona and Hartwell Lake both have public parks, boat ramps and campgrounds run by the Corps of Engineers. Tallulah Gorge State Park in Rabun County sits beside the Tallulah Falls hydro area. If you need to enter a plant for a school project or a business reason, contact the operator weeks in advance.

Call the company that sends your bill, not the plant. Outages are usually caused by distribution lines or storms, and the power station nearby may be running normally. Georgia Power, your EMC or your city utility each run their own outage reporting. If you see a downed line, stay well away, treat it as live and call 911. Before any digging project, Georgia 811 must be contacted so buried lines are marked. For billing disputes you cannot settle with the utility, the Public Service Commission has a consumer affairs process.

Begin with the Georgia Environmental Protection Division, which issues the air, wastewater and water withdrawal permits that govern plants. Write down the date, time and a description of what you saw, smelled or heard, and include photos if you can take them safely from public land. The division posts proposed permits for public comment, and you can submit written comments during those periods. For noise, traffic or zoning matters, your county government is the better first call. Keep the plant's name and address from the listing, since several Georgia plants share similar names.

Georgia's economy includes paper, packaging and clay processing, and those industries often generate steam and electricity on site. Entries like International Paper Savanna Mill in Savannah, Inland Paperboard Packaging Rome and Thiele Kaolin in Sandersville fit that pattern. Landfill gas projects turn waste methane into power, as the Albany entry on Radford Boulevard suggests. Solar farms in places like Butler, Bainbridge and Eatonton have also been added in recent years. These sites produce real electricity but are not retail utilities, so contact the owner, not a customer service desk, for questions.