By:Nick Evans-April 15, 2026
Ohio Democratic U.S. Rep. Greg Landsman has filed national legislation to ensure data centers pay for their impact on the power grid.
Landsman’s No Harm Data Center Act
EditSign would require data center operators cover the cost of new energy infrastructure, prohibit elected officials from signing nondisclosure agreements and require a study of the facilities’ environmental impacts.
Ohio lawmakers are pursuing nearly identical changes at the state level. But data centers aren’t just going up in Ohio, and Landsman believes Congress needs to act.
“I don’t think anyone has any real faith that there’s going to be movement on this in Ohio,” he said. “If there is, that’s great. Either way, you need a federal framework for managing these data centers and protecting communities.”
President Trump bragged during his state of the union address about securing a “ratepayer protection pledge” from tech companies.
“We’re telling the major tech companies that they have the obligation to provide for their own power needs.” Trump said. “They can build their own power plants as part of their factory, so that no one’s prices will go up.”
But Landsman contends a promise isn’t good enough.
“You’re either with Big Tech or with our towns,” he said in a release. “A handshake and a promise from these tech companies is not enough. That’s why we’re leading the data center effort to make sure they pay, and that they negotiate their deals in public – no more NDAs.”
Still, Landsman’s plan would mean a dramatic increase in the role federal regulators play in setting utility rates for data centers. Ohio’s consumer watchdog worries that might make it difficult for the average ratepayer to make their voice heard.
How the bill works
Landsman’s proposal applies to data centers pulling more than 50 megawatts of power at peak demand. For context, in 2022, the average U.S. home needed a little less than 1 megawatt to keep the lights on for an entire month.
Connecting such a power-hungry facility to the grid isn’t as simple as plugging in a new a toaster or lamp. Landsman tasks the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission with managing the process.
The measure directs the commission to charge the “full costs of constructing, upgrading, and expanding” the power grid to new data centers.
In a written statement, Ohio Consumers’ Counsel Maureen Willis praised the provision as a “core-consumer protection principle,” ensuring ordinary ratepayers aren’t forced to pay for the “extraordinary infrastructure costs associated with data centers.”
Data center owners would be on the hook for the poles and wires running to their own facilities, as well as the physical infrastructure necessary to make sure the broader power grid remains reliable for other customers.
Facility owners would also have to help shoulder the cost for new power generation to meet added demand.
All those costs would get applied to the rates they pay for power, and the measure prohibits utilities from shifting costs to other consumers.
“This is an essential safeguard,” Willis said, “at a time when rapid data center growth threatens to shift billions in system upgrade costs onto ordinary consumers.”
Landsman’s bill also invalidates nondisclosure agreements between public officials and data center operators.
He said they amount to an end-run around Ohio’s sunshine laws, by allowing investors to purchase land and negotiate tax breaks before community members have a chance to push back.
“These deals need to be entirely transparent,” Landsman said. “Not a little bit transparent, not kind of transparent, not mostly transparent, but entirely transparent. And that means no NDAs.”
Who sets rates?
The one bit in Landsman’s bill that gives Willis pause, however, is the expanded role for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
Right now, FERC sets rates for high voltage electric transmission — think interstate highways — while state regulators handle rates for the lower voltage distribution network — think city streets.
Under Landsman’s proposal, FERC would assume all ratemaking authority, that is, transmission and distribution, when it comes data centers.
“We wanted to make sure that this was real change,” Landsman explained.
“I think people are getting a lot of lip service when it comes to these data centers in terms of protecting them from additional costs and the noise and the pollution in the soil and the water.”
“This would empower FERC to protect entire communities from the additional costs associated with the data centers,” he added.
Willis said that “while we strongly support the policy objective,” granting FERC exclusive authority over electric ratemaking “displaces” the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio.
And it’s not as though state regulators have done nothing. For instance, last year, the PUCO approved a data center specific tariff for AEP Ohio.
Since then a bipartisan pair of state lawmakers have filed legislation to extend its provisions to other utilities around the state.
“A stronger and more durable framework,” Willis continued, “would preserve the no-cost-shift mandate while allowing the state commissions, including the PUCO, to implement and enforce the federal requirements.”
Landsman acknowledged the change would mean a lot more work landing on FERC’s desk. But “in the absence of state and federal leadership, the communities are having to do this on their own.”
“Individuals who have lived their entire lives next to a field that is now going to be a data center, are having to do this on their own,” he said, “and that is unreasonable.”
