---
title: O.C.G.A. § 46-2-1. Election of Commissioners; terms of office.
collection: code
id: 46-2-1
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 46-2-1 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/46-2-1
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/46-2-1.md
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source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t46-(v34)-2025-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=48adb3c4_0#page=42
date: 2025
status: active
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current_through: Including Acts of the 2025 Session of the General Assembly of Georgia
heading_path: PUBLIC UTILITIES AND PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION / PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION / ORGANIZATION AND MEMBERS
---

# O.C.G.A. § 46-2-1. Election of Commissioners; terms of office.

(a) The Georgia Public Service Commission shall consist of five members to be elected as provided in this Code section. Members elected to the commission shall be required to be residents of one of five Public Service Commission Districts as hereafter provided, but each member of the commission shall be elected state wide by the qualified voters of this state who are entitled to vote for members of the General Assembly. Except as otherwise provided in this Code section, the election shall be held under the same rules and regulations as apply to the election of Governor. The Commissioners shall give their entire time to the duties of their offices. Except as otherwise provided for in this chapter, the Commissioners shall be elected at the general election next preceding the expiration of the terms of office of the respective incumbents, and their terms of office shall be six years and shall expire on December 31.

(b) In order to be elected as a member of the commission from a Public Service Commission District, a person shall have resided in that district for at least 12 months prior to election thereto. A person elected as a member of the commission from a Public Service Commission District by the voters of Georgia shall continue to reside in that district during the person’s term of office, or that office shall thereupon become vacant.

(c) For the purpose of electing the members of the Public Service Commission, this state shall be divided into five Public Service Commission Districts described as follows:

District 001

Appling County

Atkinson County

Bacon County

Baker County

Baldwin County

Ben Hill County

Berrien County

Bibb County

Bleckley County

Brantley County

Brooks County

Bryan County

Calhoun County

Camden County

Charlton County

Chattahoochee County

Clay County

Clinch County

Coffee County

Colquitt County

Cook County

Crawford County

Crisp County

Decatur County

Dodge County

Dooly County

Dougherty County

Early County

Echols County

Evans County

Glynn County

Grady County

Harris County

Houston County

Irwin County

Jeff Davis County

Johnson County

Jones County

Lanier County

Laurens County

Lee County

Liberty County

Long County

Lowndes County

Macon County

Marion County

McIntosh County

Miller County

Mitchell County

Monroe County

Montgomery County

Muscogee County

Peach County

Pierce County

Pulaski County

Quitman County

Randolph County

Schley County

Seminole County

Stewart County

Sumter County

Talbot County

Tattnall County

Taylor County

Telfair County

Terrell County

Thomas County

Tift County

Toombs County

Treutlen County

Turner County

Twiggs County

Ware County

Wayne County

Webster County

Wheeler County

Wilcox County

Wilkinson County

Worth County

District 002

Banks County

Barrow County

Bulloch County

Burke County

Butts County

Candler County

Chatham County

Clarke County

Columbia County

Effingham County

Elbert County

Emanuel County

Glascock County

Greene County

Hancock County

Hart County

Henry County

Jackson County

Jasper County

Jefferson County

Jenkins County

Lincoln County

Madison County

McDuffie County

Morgan County

Newton County

Oconee County

Oglethorpe County

Putnam County

Richmond County

Rockdale County

Screven County

Spalding County

Taliaferro County

Walton County

Warren County

Washington County

Wilkes County

District 003

Clayton County

DeKalb County

Fulton County

District 004

Cherokee County

Dawson County

Fannin County

Forsyth County

Franklin County

Gilmer County

Gwinnett County

Habersham County

Hall County

Lumpkin County

Murray County

Pickens County

Rabun County

Stephens County

Towns County

Union County

White County

Whitfield County

District 005

Bartow County

Carroll County

Catoosa County

Chattooga County

Cobb County

Coweta County

Dade County

Douglas County

Fayette County

Floyd County

Gordon County

Haralson County

Heard County

Lamar County

Meriwether County

Paulding County

Pike County

Polk County

Troup County

Upson County

Walker County

(d)(1) Those members of the commission elected at the 2020 general election, and any person appointed to fill a vacancy in such office, and those members of the commission serving in seats that were scheduled to be filled in either the 2022 or 2024 general election, shall serve the terms provided for in Code Section 46-2-1.1 and until their successors are elected and qualified. Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, successors to such members shall be elected as provided for in Code Section 46-2-1.1 and shall serve the terms to which they were elected and until their successors are elected and qualified.

(2) Except as provided for in paragraph (1) of this subsection, all future successors to members of the commission whose terms of office are to expire shall be elected at the state-wide general election immediately preceding the expiration of such terms, shall take office on the first day of January immediately following that election, and shall serve for terms of office of six years.

## History

Ga. L. 1878-79, p. 125, § 1; Code 1882, § 719a; Civil Code 1895, § 2185; Ga. L. 1906, p. 100, §§ 1-3; Ga. L. 1907, p. 72, § 1; Civil Code 1910, §§ 2615, 2616; Ga. L. 1922, p. 143, § 1; Code 1933, § 93-201; Ga. L. 1998, p. 1530, §§ 1, 2; Ga. L. 2002, p. 359, §§ 1, 2; Ga. L. 2012, p. 642, § 1/SB 382; Ga. L. 2022, p. 14, § 1/SB 472; Ga. L. 2024, p. 36, § 1/HB 1312, effective April 18, 2024.

## Code Commission Notes

Pursuant to Code Section 28-9-5, in 2022, “Chattooga County” was substituted for “ChattooCounty County” in the entry for Public Service Commission District 5.

## Amendments

The 2024 amendment, effective April 18, 2024, in subsection (a), substituted “Members” for “The members in office on January 1, 2022, and any member appointed or elected to fill a vacancy in such membership prior to the expiration of a term of office shall continue to serve out their respective terms of office. As terms of office expire, new members” in the second and third sentences and rewrote the fifth and sixth sentences, which read: “The Commissioners, who shall give their entire time to the duties of their offices, shall be elected at the general election next preceding the expiration of the terms of office of the respective incumbents. Their terms of office shall be six years and shall expire on December 31.”; and rewrote subsection (d), which read: “The first members of the commission elected under this Code section shall be elected thereto on the Tuesday next following the first Monday in November, 2024, from Public Service Commission Districts 3 and 5, shall take office on the first day of January immediately following the election, and shall serve for terms of office of six years and until the election and qualification of their respective successors. Those members of the commission elected thereto on the Tuesday next following the first Monday in November, 2026, from Public Service Commission Districts 1 and 4 shall take office on the first day of January immediately following that election and shall serve for terms of office of six years and until the election and qualifications of their respective successors. The member of the commission elected thereto on the Tuesday next following the first Monday in November, 2022, from Public Service Commission District 2 shall take office on the first day of January immediately following that election and shall serve for a term of office of six years and until the election and qualification of his or her respective successor. All future successors to members of the commission whose terms of office are to expire shall be elected at the state‑wide general election immediately preceding the expiration of such terms, shall take office on the first day of January immediately following that election, and shall serve for terms of office of six years.”