Alicia Johnson Becomes 1st Black Woman On Georgia’s Public Service Commission

On Thursday, Alicia Johnson will become the first Black woman to hold statewide office in Georgia when she joins the state Public Service Commission.

According to AP, Alicia Johnson was sworn in to the role on Monday during a ceremony in the commission chambers. Johnson called her election a “historic milestone” during the ceremony. “You stand with me at the intersection of history and responsibility. This oath connects me to a long arc of progress in Georgia — one shaped by citizens who dared and expanded the promise of democracy through courage, sacrifice, and persistence,” Johnson said in prepared remarks.

The impact of her election was not lost on Alicia Johnson during her swearing-in ceremony. “I think that anybody who does something for the first time has a — you know it could be an overwhelming sense of responsibility,” Johnson told reporters after the ceremony. “It’s a shame that a commission that has over a 100-year history, that I’m the first anything on it. But the reality is, that’s who we are.”

According to CBS News, the Georgia Public Service Commission regulates the rates charged by the Georgia Power Co. With 2.7 million customers, the unit of Atlanta-based Southern Co. is Georgia’s only private electrical utility. Until the November election, the Georgia Public Service Commission was entirely controlled by Republicans. Alicia Johnson and Peter Hubbard won in landslide victories against Republican incumbents Tim Echols and Fitz Johnson. The two became the first Democrats to be elected to statewide office in nearly 20 years. 

Their victories were largely driven by discontent over rising utility prices, which have coincided with increased development of AI data centers in Georgia. “I accept this responsibility fully aware that the decisions made in this room and in this role affects families’ monthly bills, their community health, their economic opportunity, and our shared future,” Johnson said during the ceremony.

Johnson campaigned on making the commission’s website compliant with 508 accessibility standards and on creating a consumer advisory group for District 2, which includes central Georgia. One of her most notable pledges is to pursue legislative and regulatory guardrails that ensure data centers are responsible for the energy they consume, rather than passing the cost on to ratepayers.

“I don’t want to pay for somebody else’s server farm,” Johnson said. “And I don’t think any Georgian wants to take on that cost.”

While Alicia Johnson and Peter Hubbard beat the two Republican incumbents, Georgia’s Public Service Commission still has a three-person Republican majority. Despite that, Johnson says she believes utility policies should be nonpartisan. “Good policy is not red policy or blue policy — it’s people-centered policy,” Johnson told reporters. “We’ve all taken the same oath.”

While governors have appointed numerous Black women to nonpartisan statewide positions, such as judgeships, Johnson is the first Black woman to be elected to a partisan statewide position. I wish I could say I’m surprised by that fact, but as Alicia Johnson so eloquently put it, that’s who we are. 

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