State Rep. David Thomas, a Republican who represents a portion of Trumbull County, introduced legislation in the Ohio House to establish minimum standards statewide for electric service agreements with data centers.

Ohio has experienced significant growth in data centers that often require major transmission and distribution upgrades. A number of communities have passed moratoriums on data centers because of the amount of electricity and other utilities they use.

The bill provides guardrails to support responsible development while protecting other customers from rate impacts, said Thomas, of Jefferson.

“The whole goal is to remove the reasons why communities don’t want data centers,” Thomas said.

The bill’s other lead sponsor is state Rep. Tristan Rader, D-Lakewood. The bill also has bipartisan support among its 17 co-sponsors, including state Reps. Tex Fischer, R-Canfield, and Lauren McNally, D-Youngstown.

Thomas said, “Data centers are an important part of Ohio’s future, and we want to continue attracting them. At the same time, utilities and regulators need clear rules so that grid investments are planned responsibly and existing customers are not left holding the bag.”

The bill would still permit communities to issue moratoriums on data centers.

But Thomas said, “It responds to their frustrations and issues and lowers the desire to issue moratoriums.”

The bill’s language is similar to what AEP Ohio in central Ohio put in place through a Public Utilities Commission of Ohio tariff, Thomas said.

AEP charges a one-time fee for each load study between $10,000 and $100,000 to be paid within 45 days, or customers forfeit their spot. Also, any data centers requesting more than 25,000 kilowatts of electricity from AEP must sign a tariff contract.

“AEP did it on their own, so we’re making this statewide,” Thomas said. “I’m hopeful it passes (the House and Senate). At the very least, it will encourage the other utility companies to adopt this.”

The bill requires data centers to enter into long-term service agreements with electric utilities before those utilities construct dedicated infrastructure. It directs the PUCO to establish standards for interconnection queue practices, load study monetary deposits and milestone requirements within six months of the bill becoming law.

The bill prohibits electric utilities from recovering costs associated with data centers from other customers and includes minimum contract commitments of 12 years and minimum billing standards. It also requires financial assurances before the construction of dedicated facilities and the return of exit payments or unused capacity charges to customers.