Felony trade secret charges dropped against former Georgia PSC candidate
Former Georgia Public Service Commission candidate and Georgia Power critic Patty Durand was not indicted on a felony theft of trade secrets charge Tuesday after prosecutors determined the material she took did not meet the state’s legal definition of a trade secret.
Durand was arrested in late October after taking a notebook labeled “Georgia Power Trade Secrets” from a table during a PSC meeting at the state Capitol.
To convict someone of felony theft of trade secrets in Georgia, prosecutors said they would have to prove the information involved qualifies as a “trade secret” under state law, and in this case, it didn’t.
To qualify as a trade secret, the information must not be publicly available, must have economic value because it is not widely known, and must be subject to reasonable efforts to keep it secret.
The district attorney’s office concluded they could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the notebook’s contents met that definition, mainly because the efforts to maintain secrecy were too weak.
Why prosecutors said the secrecy standard failed
The filing describes how multiple notebooks, including the one Durand took, were placed on tables right next to a public comment podium, within arm’s reach of anyone speaking.
“At various times during the meeting, as many as 50 individuals were seated in the audience with no physical barrier between them and the tables where the notebooks were located, and any of those individuals could have accessed or taken the notebooks,” the filing reads.
Most of the notebook content was publicly available, the district attorney’s office said, with only a smaller portion marked confidential. Other individuals also had accessed the information already.
“Confidential information is often included in PSC hearing materials, with witnesses and staff instructed not to disclose it publicly,” the filing said. “Intervenors can sometimes access these confidential documents through a portal under nondisclosure agreements, but Georgia Power cannot guarantee who sees that information and largely relies on an honor system to ensure it is returned or destroyed after cases end.”
Evidence supported probable cause for misdemeanor theft by taking or criminal trespass charges, though prosecutors declined to pursue either , the district attorney’s office said. They cited circumstances of the case, including Durand’s lack of criminal history, time spent in jail following her arrest, the absence of financial harm to Georgia Power, and her completion of community service and a theft awareness class.
“Although I am pleased with the outcome of my particular case, Georgia Power customers deserve more transparency and accountability in proceedings at the Georgia Public Service Commission,” Durand said. “The extensive redactions and trade secrets Georgia’s commissioners allow are outside of regulatory norms and continues to harm Georgia Power customers. It’s wrong and it needs to end.”
Broader concerns over trade secrets at the PSC
Durand’s case highlights ongoing concerns about Georgia Power’s use of trade secret claims in Public Service Commission proceedings.
In recent PSC cases, the company has shielded most power plant cost data as trade secrets, a practice the Southern Environmental Law Center criticized in a January motion seeking reconsideration of the PSC’s approval of new fossil gas generation. The law center argued that the heavy reliance on trade secret designations limited public scrutiny of decisions that will lock customers into billions of dollars in long-term energy costs.
The motion said while confidential information is common in PSC cases, widespread trade secret designations undermine transparency and make it difficult for the public to independently assess the cost impacts that ultimately fall on ratepayers. Though the motion does not challenge the legality of trade-secret protections, it argues that these redactions hinder public oversight in proceedings with major financial consequences for Georgia Power customers.
This story was originally published January 23, 2026 at 10:29 AM.
