Two California legislators introduced bills to protect ratepayers from price surges that result from increased demand from data centers.
SB 57 would require the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to set a specified tariff for customers that have at least 50 megawatts (MW) of load and request interconnection at transmission level voltages. The bill requires the CPUC to establish or modify a special tariff by July 1, 2026.
The bill would also authorize the CPUC to require a customer eligible for the tariff to install energy storage and backup power systems “behind the meter.” It would also allow the CPUC to set zero-carbon procurement targets for electricity procurements on behalf of a tariffed customer.
The Senate analysis of the bill notes that the bill does not specifically target data centers, defined as facilities that house computer systems, but new data centers may be the majority of the businesses that the bill impacts. The Senate analysis states that, according to PG&E’s filings, data centers comprised 67% of the 34 transmission interconnection applications that PG&E has received since 2023.
AB 222 would require the California Energy Commission to report energy use associated with the development and use of artificial intelligence (AI) and track the energy usage of data centers in the state. It would also task the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to minimize utility costs related to data center development.
The bill analysis notes that energy usage for training AI algorithms has increased significantly over the last 10 years. This has led to concerns about infrastructure and energy usage, and the bill is intended to minimize the potential shifting of the costs from this usage to ratepayers.