Democrats will take control of Georgia’s utility regulator for the first time in decades, propelled by voter frustration over rising electricity bills.

Peter Hubbard was reelected to the state’s Public Service Commission and Shelia Edwards won a seat for the first time, giving Democrats a 3-2 majority, according to the Georgia Secretary of State website. It was part of a Democratic sweep in Georgia, with victories across major statewide races.

Surging utility bills are upending politics and elections across parts of the US. Concerns are also mounting over the impact of building new power plants to serve data centers, including the potential for those investments to push electricity bills even higher.

Those pressures helped fuel a voter backlash in historically conservative Georgia, according to Patty Durand, founder of the consumer advocacy group Georgians for Affordable Energy.

“People are really frustrated over high utility bills and the risk of data centers increasing utility bills even further,” Durand said in an interview. “People are furious.”Affordability has emerged has a key election issue in the state this year. In a July survey, 75% of voters aged 50 and older expressed concern that data centers may drive up power bills.

Residential bills for customers of Georgia Power, the state’s largest utility, have climbed by an average of more than $500 a year since 2023, driven in large part by rising natural gas prices and a costly nuclear project.

Hubbard, who first won his seat in a special election last year, has pushed for measures aimed at lowering bills and expanding clean energy. He’s a supporter of residential solar policies. He’s also argued that data centers should shoulder more costs for expanding the power grid.

“A large body of residential customers in the state are now going to have a larger voice,” Stephen Smith, executive director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, a nonprofit focused on environmental policies, said in an interview.