HB 1320: Public utilities; nuclear energy generation facilities in the integrated resource plan; provide

Georgia law already requires large utilities to file an integrated resource plan every few years with the Public Service Commission, showing how they will meet future electricity demand. As part of that plan, utilities must show the economic, environmental, and other benefits of options such as energy efficiency, power pooling, purchases from other states, alternative energy facilities, and cogeneration or hydro-generation facilities. This bill adds "facilities which use nuclear energy to generate electricity" to that list of options utilities must address in their plans, and relabels the following lettered items to make room for it. It does not create new funding, permitting rules, or safety requirements specific to nuclear plants; it simply adds nuclear generation to the menu of supply sources utilities must evaluate. The bill also repeals any conflicting laws, a standard closing provision.

• Adds nuclear energy generation facilities as a listed option utilities must evaluate for economic, environmental, and other benefits in their integrated resource plans.
• Renumbers the existing list of energy sources and facility types (alternative energy, cogeneration, hydro-generation, and other options) to fit the new nuclear category.
• Leaves unchanged the existing filing schedule (every three years) and the Public Service Commission's 120-day deadline to approve each plan.
• Repeals any other state laws that conflict with this change, a routine closing clause.

This affects large regulated electric utilities in Georgia, such as Georgia Power, that must file integrated resource plans, as well as the Public Service Commission, which reviews and approves those plans, and ultimately utility customers whose rates and energy mix depend on the approved plan.

By formally listing nuclear power alongside options like efficiency programs and power pooling, the bill directs utilities to explicitly address nuclear generation when justifying their future power supply choices, which could shape how future plants like additions to Plant Vogtle are considered in state regulatory review.

• Section 1 amends O.C.G.A. § 46-3A-2(b)(3) to add a new item (D): 'Facilities which use nuclear energy to generate electricity' to the list of supply sources a plan must justify.
• Section 1 relabels the former (D) alternative-energy facilities item and (E) cogeneration/hydro-generation item to (E) and (F) respectively, and the former (F) catch-all item to (G).
• The existing three-year filing requirement for utility integrated resource plans and the commission's 120-day approval deadline remain unchanged.
• Section 2 repeals any conflicting laws, a standard closing provision with no substantive effect on its own.

1. 2026-02-25House Committee Favorably Reported (House)
2. 2026-02-19House Second Readers (House)
3. 2026-02-18House First Readers (House)
4. 2026-02-17House Hopper (House)

• Don Parsons (R, HD-044)Primary sponsor
• Robert Dickey (R, HD-134)
• William Werkheiser (R, HD-157)
• Gerald Greene (R, HD-154)
• Victor Anderson (R, HD-010)

• nuclear energy
• public utilities
• energy policy
• Public Service Commission
• electricity regulation