Ohio House Democrats Urge Governor DeWine to Act on Data Center Electricity Costs Before Ohio Consumers Face Higher Bills

COLUMBUS — Ohio House Minority Leader Dani Isaacsohn (D-Cincinnati), Member of the Select Committee on Data Centers Representative Glassburn (D–North Olmstead) House Energy Committee Ranking Member Representative Rader (D–Cleveland), and the members of the Ohio House Democratic Caucus leadership team today sent a letter to Governor Mike DeWine urging immediate action to establish a statewide utility rate class for large data centers in order to protect Ohio families and businesses from looming electricity rate increases.

The lawmakers' letter comes as PJM Interconnection, the regional grid operator serving Ohio and much of the Midwest, prepares for a major procurement process this fall that could saddle residential and small business customers with significant costs associated with rapidly growing electricity demand from data centers if adequate consumer protections are not in place.

Ohio House Democrats are calling on Governor DeWine to work with the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) to ensure a dedicated rate structure is established for large data center customers so that the costs they impose on Ohio's electric grid are borne by those facilities rather than shifted onto everyday ratepayers.

The letter notes: 

“The time for action is now.  As PJM holds an early auction to secure additional power generation for data centers,  it is critical that Ohio is ready to protect other customers from these additional costs. PJM has made clear that all Ohioans will have to pay even higher rates for the additional power generation unless a separate rate class makes sure it is paid by data centers. This responsibility falls on elected leaders of this state.”

Data centers have become one of the fastest-growing sources of electricity demand in Ohio and across the country. State policymakers, consumer advocates, environmental organizations, and utility regulators have increasingly raised concerns that without appropriate rate structures, the infrastructure and generation costs needed to serve these facilities could be spread among all utility customers.

As the letter states: 

“The data center industry itself has publicly acknowledged in testimony that they increased capacity requirements by 50%.  Others believe their share is much higher.  All parties believe that the industry will continue to grow even more rapidly into the future.” 

The request follows recent discussions in the Ohio General Assembly regarding data center development and consumer protections, including proposals to create a separate utility rate class for large-load customers. With no additional legislative session days currently scheduled this year, caucus members emphasized the urgency of executive action to prevent unnecessary costs from being passed on to Ohio households and businesses.

Lawmakers in their letter noted: 

“While the legislature could have acted through legislation to direct this action, the failure of the majority to bring this forward does not undermine existing authority of the Public Utilities Commission to determine classifications.”

In their letter, lawmakers urged the governor to act quickly so that Ohio has protections in place before PJM's upcoming processes determine how future grid investments and reliability costs will be allocated.

A copy of the letter is attached.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The letter is attached.