Bill > A796

This bill requires electric public utilities to establish special rules and tariffs for large data centers, defined as facilities with a significant electricity demand (at least 50 megawatts, with the Board of Public Utilities potentially aggregating demand from multiple facilities under common ownership or control), to ensure that other customers, referred to as "ratepayers," do not bear increased costs due to the high energy consumption of these data centers. The Board of Public Utilities will oversee the development and approval of these rules, which aim to prevent non-data center customers from subsidizing large data centers, ensure all costs associated with serving them are allocated to the data centers themselves, and protect existing customers from stranded costs if a data center ceases operations. The bill also incentivizes data centers to improve energy efficiency, utilize waste heat, and consider generating their own clean energy or implementing energy storage solutions, while also establishing mechanisms for demand flexibility programs and prioritizing the curtailment of large data centers over residential customers during emergencies.