Bills Protecting Ratepayers From Data Center Costs and Incentivizing Sustainable Tech Infrastructure Development Passes Senate Floor
Source:News from the Office of Senator Steve Padilla
SB 886 would require the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to establish a special tariff to protect ratepayers from the transmission costs that supply large data centers while meeting the state’s climate goals. The tariff will ensure electrical grid investments for data centers are fully recovered to ensure other ratepayers do not end up footing the bill. A tariff would protect ratepayers from skyrocketing costs without increasing the state’s reliance on fossil fuels.
The legislative package is co-sponsored by ratepayer advocacy group TURN and environmental advocacy group Net-Zero California. “The massive increase in forecasted data center deployments across the state requires the Legislature to take swift action to protect ratepayers and ensure that the addition of these new facilities is beneficial, and not harmful, to the achievement of the state’s electric affordability and greenhouse gas reduction targets.” said Matthew Freedman, Staff Attorney at The Utility Reform Network (TURN). “SB 886 and SB 887 include critical conditions to protect electricity customers from bearing additional costs attributable to the data center boom.”
