Pennsylvania lawmakers hear testimony about rising utility costs from data center expansion
The conversation surrounding rising utility costs and data centers continued in Harrisburg this week with a special meeting focused on energy affordability and the possibly drastic impact of data centers.
Pennsylvania consumer advocate Darryl Lawrence, who represents customers on utility matters, opened his comments with a bold statement.
"Data centers must pay their own way," Lawrence said.
He was addressing state lawmakers at a joint informational hearing of the House Energy and Consumer Protection, Technology and Utilities committees.
"This situation must be rectified," Lawrence said.
For nearly four hours, lawmakers heard testimony as they tried to find solutions to the rising costs from data center expansions. They came from stakeholders like Lawrence, along with Asim Haque, the senior vice president of governmental and member services of PJM Interconnection, the non-profit organization and regional grid operator that keeps the lights on for customers in 13 states and the District of Columbia.
"The supply-demand challenge is your affordability challenge," Haque said.
He said they're forecasting a load of 241,000 megawatts by 2041, a nearly 34 percent increase from the current level.
However, Lawrence said the prices are already a problem, combined with the fact that proposed solutions to the high load are typically buildouts of new infrastructure, instead of looking for less expensive options. The results, he said, are those proposed costs are being placed on consumers.
"I strongly recommend that this body vote in favor of legislation to ensure that any new data centers in Pennsylvania must pay for any and all costs that they are causing that would not have been needed but for the presence of a data center," Lawrence said.
Some lawmakers, like state Rep. Tom Mehaffie, who serves parts of Dauphin County, were concerned this could drive centers and their investments to other states.
"We need to incentivize. We need to look at ways to bring generation here, whatever it is," Mehaffie said.
They're all possibilities they'll continue to look at, in hopes of keeping the power on for their constituents.
"I hope that my colleagues will join me in a robust bipartisan conversation about ways in which we can really help poor and working-class people who are going to be hit the hardest by this crisis that's right on the horizon," House Energy Committee Majority Chair Rep. Elizabeth Fiedler, who serves Philadelphia County, said.
It's also important to note that the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission has proposed what it is calling a "model tariff for large load customers" to protect existing customers from bearing the cost of buildouts.