Has Ohio found a way to predict the power needs of data centers?

• AEP Ohio’s new data center tariff, which requires large facilities to commit to covering at least 85% of the energy they say they’ll use even if they use less, has shrunk the utility’s data center queue from 30 gigawatts to 5.6 gigawatts, an 80% drop that the company says is weeding out speculative “tire kicker” projects.
• Ohio lawmakers are now looking to extend similar requirements statewide, with a bipartisan House bill that would ban utilities from shifting data center infrastructure costs onto residential customers and require developers to sign binding contracts before breaking ground.
• Multiple Ohio communities have imposed moratoriums on data center construction as residents push back against the projects’ energy demands, water use, and noise. Rural and small-town residents are increasingly finding that state-level permitting can bypass local zoning review entirely, leaving communities with little say over facilities that can consume more electricity than the surrounding county.