Georgia Power named a Top U.S. Utility for Economic Development

2020 partnership with state, local organizations set record with nearly 23,000 Georgia jobs

ATLANTA– For the 23^rd consecutive year, Georgia Power has been named a “Top U.S. Utility for Economic Development” by Site Selection magazine. Of more than 3,300 utilities across the country, Georgia Power was one of only 20 chosen for this honor.

Georgia Power partnered with state and community organizations last year on 126 projects, helping businesses with relocation or expansion plans, resulting in a record-setting 22,900 jobs created or retained – a tally more than 6,000 jobs above the 2019 count. Representing $5.2 billion in capital investment, project locations spanned the state.

In the last 10 years alone, the company assisted 1,023 companies that created or retained nearly 164,400 jobs and invested more than $38.1 billion in Georgia. To learn more about the company’s economic development initiatives, visit SelectGeorgia.com.

“Despite the challenges of the past year, we remained more connected than ever to our partners, community leaders, and customers. Georgia Power is proud of our role in helping our state remain one of the strongest economies in the nation and tackling those challenges together,” said Lisa Smith, Georgia Power, vice president of Community and Economic Development. “Our work and partnership led to record-breaking job creation numbers during a pandemic, a critical time to deliver opportunity.”

Georgia Power partners with organizations such as the Georgia Department of Economic Development to promote Georgia as a leading state for business. Georgia Power offers free community and economic development consultation and services to prospective companies navigating the site selection process – all while serving as a liaison between state and local organizations. Georgia Power is dedicated not only to facilitating a company’s expansion in Georgia or its move to the state but also assisting local communities with expansion, retention and recruitment of jobs and investment. The company’s community and economic development team is also invested in creating a renewable talent pipeline through its education and workforce development initiatives.

In the award citation, Site Selection noted the Georgia Power Community and Economic Development team actively supported the Lt. Governor’s Georgia Innovates Taskforce, a state-sponsored initiative to advance Georgia’s status as the technology capital of the East Coast. The team also launched a virtual learning series, CommUNITY Conversations, that evolved into a larger scale series of town hall webinars that reached more than 3,500 community leaders across the state.

The team also engaged 110,000+ students in person and virtually in 2020; convened four workforce development summits; launched Poweringcareers.com to support energy sector workforce growth; and was a founding member of the Center for Workforce Innovation (CWI) at Atlanta Technical College, where it also launched the Electrical Lineworker Apprentice Certificate program.

In addition, researchers on the team developed a COVID-19 Resources Site: a county index enabling communities to analyze their strengths and weaknesses vs. other counties; and an enhanced website product for interactive prospect RFIs that includes sections on diversity, inclusion, and equity.

Each year Site Selection salutes the Top Utilities in Economic Development based on corporate end-user project investment and affiliated job creation in these utilities’ territories the previous calendar year, evaluated on a cumulative and per-capita basis. Managing Editor of Site Selection magazine Adam Bruns, noted that “These high performers stand out among nation’s 3,300 utilities. This year’s Top Utilities — like their customers and communities — demonstrate perseverance, ingenuity and the spirit of service.”