Georgia Power has accused a former Democratic candidate for Georgia’s Public Service Commission (PSC) of stealing trade secrets.
Patty Durand was arrested on Tuesday by Georgia Capitol Police and charged with felony theft, according to a report from Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB).
A hearing was held regarding “Georgia Power’s request to add two Plant Vogtles’ worth of new power, mostly for data centers,” the outlet said. The report also noted that Durand opposes the centers as well as potential rate hikes, and that she runs a watchdog group known as Georgia Utility Watch.
Video footage from the day of the hearing reportedly shows Durand, wearing a brown jacket, approaching a desk and picking up a booklet before setting it back down and walking to the other side of the room.
Moments later, the footage appears to show Durand taking another booklet from a different desk, placing it in her bag, and leaving the room.
In an August interview with GPB, Durand criticized what she described as a lack of transparency in Georgia Power’s agreements with data centers.
“The Public Service Commission allows very heavy redactions and trade secrets,” she said. “So the contracts between Georgia Power and the data centers are also redacted and trade secreted. So no one will know what they actually charge data centers.”
It remains unclear what officials believe Durand intended to do with the materials she allegedly took. Georgia Power is cooperating with authorities in the ongoing investigation, according to Fox 5.
The Georgia Recorder reported: “This week’s PSC proceedings were held to consider a request from Georgia Power to add nearly 10,000 megawatts to the state’s power grid. About 60% of the energy requested would come from expanding or building new gas plants, while 40% would come from renewable energy.”
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Durand, who earlier this year founded Georgians for Affordable Energy, a watchdog group, alleged during a public hearing Tuesday that Georgia Power is prioritizing profits for its five affiliated gas companies by building new natural gas power plants rather than investing in solar energy and battery storage, the outlet added.
She said the company should be held accountable for what she described as its “immoral” actions.
“There is no court in the land that would allow that kind of corruption to go on, and I have no idea why the state of Georgia does,” Durand said at the time, per the Recorder.
In a statement per the Daily Mail following her arrest, Georgia Republican Party Chairman Josh McKoon said: “Patty Durand built her brand attacking the Public Service Commission and now she’s been arrested for stealing from it.”
He added: “This is the same failed Democrat PSC candidate who parades around as a so-called ‘watchdog’ while caught on video taking confidential Georgia Power materials. While Republican leaders are working to keep energy reliable and affordable for Georgia families, Democrats like Durand are sneaking around government offices and walking off with stolen documents.”
Durand’s campaign website includes a photo of her alongside Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA), who has been described by critics as a “pro-abortion radical.” According to a report from Breitbart News, Ossoff previously hired an aide with open-borders views as his senior counsel before the current government shutdown, in connection with efforts to expand health care access for illegal aliens.
“Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) and other Democrats have admitted the Democrats shut down the government in part to make it easier for illegal aliens to secure taxpayer-funded healthcare benefits,” Breitbart noted.
Minnesota state Sen. Nicole Mitchell, another Democrat, was convicted of felony burglary in July, more than a year after she was caught breaking into her stepmother’s home.
Mitchell was arrested in April 2024. She claimed she entered the residence to retrieve belongings that had belonged to her late father, and said her stepmother, Carol Mitchell, was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.
