Shelia Edwards and Peter Hubbard made it clear in their meeting with Oconee County Democrats earlier this month that they are running as a team with the goal of taking control of the state Public Service Commission from the Republicans.
“I tell everybody that there's no win for us if you elect Peter and don't elect me,” Edwards said, “because we'll be in the same situation in 2027 where the Democrats are a minority.”
“There's no win if you elect me and you don't elect him,” she said.
Democrat Alicia Johnson defeated incumbent Republican Tim Echols, and Hubbard defeated incumbent Republican Fitz Johnson in a special election in November of 2024, in each case with the Democrat getting more than 62 percent of the vote.
Johnson won a five-year term, while Hubbard won a one-year term. Terms on the five-member Commission are for six years, but the Special Election was called to stagger those terms after elections were not conducted in 2022 and 2024 because of a legal challenge.
Hubbard is running against Johnson again for the District 2 position, while Edwards is running against Republican Josh Tolbert for District 5. That seat is open, because Tricia Pridemore did not seek re-election, running instead unsuccessfully for the party nomination for U.S. Congressional District 11.
Hubbard told the Oconee County Democrats that if and Edwards win “we'll both be here through 2032, Dr. Johnson through 2030. That's how we get a majority locked in for four years. And there's a lot that we intend to do with that.”
Public Service Commissioners must live in the district she or he is seeking to represent, but voting is statewide, and the names of Hubbard and Johnson (District 3) and Edwards and Tolbert (District 5) will appear on the ballot Oconee County voters will use when early voting for the Nov. 3 election starts at 8 a.m. tomorrow at the Oconee County Administrative Building, 7635 Macon Highway, north of Watkinsville.
Hubbard On Commission Experience
Hubbard was the first to speak at the Democratic Party meeting on Oct. 1 at the in the Piedmont Oconee Health Campus meeting room on Jennings Mill Road. Twenty-eight people attended, including the candidates.
“Let me tell you about what it's been like this past year,” Hubbard said, “and what I intend to do when we actually flip the Commission.”
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| Hubbard 10/1/2026 |
Hubbard, who ran a nonprofit he created, Georgia Center for Energy Solutions, before joining the Commission, has 16 years of energy industry experience, including developing solar and battery storage projects and preparing electric utility Integrated Resource Plans. He lives in Atlanta.
“So as you can imagine, it's a Commission of five, so the rule of three governs,” Hubbard said. “I'm able to throw out motions, and she'll (Johnson) second them, and then we go to a vote. And guess what? It's always three to two.”
Hubbard said he was in a meeting that day and tried to get three different issues on the agenda for discussion. In each case, he was unsuccessful.
Republican Johnson, a business entrepreneur, maintains an official voter registration in Atlanta, which is in District 3, but he also has a home in Cobb County, which is in District 5.
“So it's been frustrating to be on the Commission and see that we're still making wrong decisions, and I don't have the power to change that,” Hubbard said.
“But I know that there is a better path for Georgia,” he continued, "and what I want to do is put us on that path and get us there as quickly as possible. I've got this deep well of expertise of how to do this, the nitty-gritty of how to make this happen.”
Hubbard On Plans
“So there's just a whole range of things that we need to be dealing with,” Hubbard said. “The question of whether data centers are paying their fair share. Spoiler alert, they are not.”
“In the first place, we're building the wrong resources for them,” Hubbard said. “In the rest of the world and the rest of the United States... 90 percent of new power plants are solar, wind, and batteries. Right now, in Georgia, 60 percent of what we're building is gas-fired generation.”
“The beauty of solar energy, when we build renewables, is that they don't require you to purchase fuel over and over again,” he said. “You just use the God-given energy that's delivered right to that power plant every single day.”
“We know the sun rises every single day,” he said. “Don't ever let someone tell you that renewables are not predictable. We know when the sun is going to rise, and you can plan around cloudy days.”
“And we now have batteries to store the extra solar energy, making hay while the sun's shining,” he said.
“Hopefully, you can see that I've got a lot of enthusiasm for the energy sector,” he said. “My 16 years of experience needs to be put to use to change the trajectory of the state.”
“So that's what the mission is for me,” he said, “is to capture these benefits of renewable energy and deliver them down to you all to get past the hurdle of Georgia Power Company, which is like a core branch of government in the state.”
“Their hands are in every pot around the state, and it's frustrating to see us continue on the same path,” he said. ”But there is some change happening already, and there's a lot more change in store for once we actually flip this Commission.”
Edwards On Running For Commission
“I'm not new to this,” Edwards said when Hubbard had finished. “In 2022, I ran for the Public Service Commission and beat out two other opponents to win the primary.”
“Got to about August timeframe,” she said, “and they took our races off the ballot.”
The election was canceled after United States District Court Judge Steven Grimberg ruled in August of 2022 that the Georgia Public Service Commission's at-large elections violate the Voting Rights Act. That decision ultimately was overturned.
Edwards is a business owner and publicist. She served as the executive director of the Georgia House Democratic caucus and also in the office of the late U.S. Congressman David Scott.
“I got into the race in 2022 because my bill was high, and I live alone,” Edwards said.
“This year, I'm running for everybody else because I know how impactful these rate increases have been on marginalized communities, on us as seniors,” she said. “We're not getting another check coming in from someplace else.”
“How are we supposed to pay these things and still get our medication, and keep a roof over our heads, and do all the things that we want to do with our lives?” she asked.
“So I was running for families, seniors, veterans, anybody who's impacted by Georgia Power and these constant rate increases,” she said.
“And not just rate increases,” she continued. “They have the audacity to turn your power off in the dead of winter or the hot season in the summer, and demand that you pay a reconnection fee. Well, if you don't have the money for the bill, where are you getting the reconnection fee? It's heartless.”
Edwards On Georgia Power
“With a good solar program, we could reduce the rates,” Edwards said. “We could have something else that's going on in South Georgia when the storms come through and rip everything up and displace everybody's life.”
“They'd be able to plug in and have some semblance of normalcy until big trucks can come in,” she said. “But they don't want that. They want you sucking on the pacifier of Georgia Power.”
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| Edwards 10/1/2026 |
“They want you to stay there and give them your money,” she said. “They don't need another dollar from us.”
“And then they have the nerve to turn around and sponsor everything under the sun,” she continued.
‘You're not sponsoring that with your money,” she said. “You're sponsoring it with our money. Go to this event sponsored by Georgia Power. Go to that event sponsored by Georgia Power. Where are they getting the money from? Out of your pocketbooks.”
“Each and every rate increase that Georgia Power's asked for,” Edwards said, “rubber stamp. We got to stop that.”
“And in order to do that,” Edwards said, “I'm running to become that third critical vote that's going to join Peter and Dr. Alicia in bringing about a consumer-friendly Public Service Commission versus the utility Public Service Commission it has operated as over the last 20 years.”
Edwards is from Cobb County.
Tolbert, an engineer and small business owner, also is from Cobb County.
More On Data Centers
In response to a question from Democratic Party Chair Harold Thompson, Hubbard said “There's definitely a concern that we are overbuilding.”
“We're building the wrong things in the first place, fossil fuel power plants that need to be paid off over decades, and there's a real concern that the data center market can go sideways,” he continued.
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| Hubbard And Edwards 10/1/2026 |
“Much like the teaser rates with the adjustable rate mortgages that led to the financial crisis in '07, '08, there are teaser rates for these data centers,” he said, “and it's an open question that they're going to come up with the revenues to actually pay off these big power plants that we're building down the road.”
“That's a big concern,” Hubbard said. “There's some things that we can do to reverse bad decisions and mitigate this. For example, we're keeping our two coal plants open for another decade for data centers, unless I have something to do about it.”
“But we can retire those coal plants, and if we lose a giant data center, then it's about the same size as our largest coal plant. There are some things we can do.”
“Your point is that we're taking a big risk,” Hubbard continued, “and it's us who is going to bear the risk of that, unless we have three commissioners there who get to say who holds the bag on this, because it really just comes down to ratepayers or shareholders are going to end up paying for all this overbuilding, if it ends up being an overbuild.”
“If I'm there, we're there,” he said, “it's going to be the shareholders that are going to have to shoulder the burden, not the ratepayers.”
“So, I would rather that we weren't taking this risk in the first place,” he continued. “We can do smarter things. You don't have to build one-for-one power plants for the data center load.”
“They can have things like the ability to dial back their demand when they're under stress,” he said, “and there's real value there, but we're just not doing the right thing.”
Video
The video below is of the entire meeting of the Oconee County Democratic Party on Oct. 1.
I was unable to attend the meeting. As a favor for me, Doug Elstad, using my camera and tripod, recorded the meeting.
Hubbard began speaking at 2:08.
Edwards began speaking at 13:34 in the video.
Thompson asked his question about data centers at 35:28 I the video.
I attend the meetings of the Oconee County Democratic Party and of Oconee County Republican Party when it is possible. I attended and wrote about the Republican Party meeting on Sept. 28.
Kathy Hurley, Chair of the Oconee County Republican Party, will not allow recording of its meetings, so I only can cover meetings of the Republican Party that I am able to attend.
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