American Electric Power of Ohio, the Ohio Consumers Counsel and the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, or PUCO, staff are striking a deal on electric rates for data centers.
Data Centers built in Ohio by Meta, Amazon and other companies wanted to pay less for the electricity the facilities will need each month. AEP, the Ohio Consumer’s Counsel and the PUCO countered with their own deal, saying the company would need to pay more for what they use.
This deal would see companies pay a higher 85% rate for the amount of electricity these data centers would use. It comes after an initial deal put together by the companies Meta and Amazon, which proposed a lower 70% rate.
This money would cover the cost of infrastructure to help power these massive facilities like power lines.
The deal will go before the five-member PUCO board for a final decision. The board is expected to begin considering its decision next week.
Ohio Consumer’s Counsel Maureen Willis said the deal will help consumers.
“We encourage business growth in Ohio. It’s a good thing. But residential customers and other customers shouldn’t have to be paying for or subsidizing utility investment that AEP would have to undertake to serve these multi-billion dollar companies,” Willis said.
Marc Reitter, the president of AEP Ohio, said this deal works towards securing a long term commitment on paying electricity for these data centers.
“What it ultimately means is when you enter into an electric service agreement with a data center that they’re going to use what they say they’re going to use at a minimum of 85%. And those revenues would offset the costs of all this transmission investment on the horizon,” Reitter said.
Amazon is just one example of companies seeking out central Ohio land to build these data centers. Amazon’s data center arm built more than $6 billion worth of data centers in Ohio between 2018 and 2023. The company plans on spending an additional $8 billion on data centers in central Ohio by 2029.