Indiana governor signs Trump data center ratepayer protection pledge
Indiana Governor Mike Braun and 22 other governors signed President Donald Trump's expanded pledge aimed at protecting utility customers from the costs associated with new data center developments. The pledge requires data center builders to cover their own electricity generation and infrastructure upgrade costs. This initiative comes as Indiana faces growing public opposition and has seen at least 17 counties enact temporary moratoriums on data centers.
Indiana Governor Mike Braun, alongside 22 other governors, signed an expanded pledge initiated by former President Donald Trump. The pledge aims to protect utility customers from the financial burden of new, large-scale data center developments by requiring developers to bear the full costs of necessary electricity generation and infrastructure upgrades.
Trump's "Ratepayer Protection Pledge" was first introduced in March, with initial signatories including major data center builders like Amazon, Google, and OpenAI. The White House, through spokeswoman Taylor Rogers, stated that the pledge is expanding to include governors, legislators, developers, and power providers to ensure all parties cover their own costs. The initiative also seeks to position data centers as economic growth drivers while enhancing America's leadership in AI.
Key commitments within the pledge include developers building or acquiring additional electricity resources and infrastructure, operating under separately negotiated rate structures to shield other customers, and contributing backup generation to improve grid reliability. Signatories also commit to local job creation and workforce development. This statewide push comes amidst significant public opposition in Indiana, where approximately five dozen AI data centers have been proposed in the last two years, leading to temporary moratoriums in at least 17 counties.