A new bill introduced into the Ohio House of Representatives Tuesday could place additional requirements upon data centers in the state, in an effort to protect consumer rates.

House Bill 710 would require any new data centers in the state to demonstrate to the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) that "the new data center's electric load will not result in increased electricity rates for residential, agricultural, or small business customers."

Data center developers will be required to bear any costs attributed to the center including "generation transmission, distribution, capacity, congestion, and ancillary service costs" — the bill aims to halt any costs associated with data centers from shifting onto other electric customers.

Any newly developed centers that could pose a risk to consumer electric rates or usage, will not be approved, according to the proposed bill.

The bill also states that the PUCO would require enforceable financial assurances such as performance bonds or letters of credit in order to "fully protect ratepayers" if a proposed data center loses its funding or fails to get the necessary approvals. In the event that either of those situations happen and a data center development cannot move forward, consumers would not be left holding the bill.

 

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