Legislation Aims to Protect Floridians From Data Center Costs, but Will It?

Florida lawmakers have passed Senate Bill 484, groundbreaking legislation intended to ensure hyper-scale data centers bear the full financial burden of their immense energy consumption and do not shift costs to average Floridians. The bill, which also includes provisions to protect the state's fragile water resources, now awaits Governor Ron DeSantis's signature. This marks Florida's first attempt to regulate these massive data storage and processing facilities, which are designed for streaming, cloud services, and artificial intelligence, and consume as much electricity as half a million homes. The legislation was prompted by growing concerns over the environmental impact and potential for rising energy rates due to multiple proposed data centers, including three in southeast Florida and one, dubbed Project Tango, facing a decision in Palm Beach County. Critics, including Anna Haensch, an associate research professor at the Data Science Institute at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Christina Reichert, a senior attorney at Earthjustice, expressed reservations about the bill's lack of specificity. They argue that the measure effectively delegates implementation to utilities and the Public Service Commission (PSC), leaving potential loopholes for data centers to still be prioritized over ratepayers. The bill, which takes effect July 1, mandates that electric providers file compliance plans by October 1 and requires data centers to use reclaimed water and submit water conservation plans. However, Reichert noted that the legislation does not adequately address wastewater pollution. Governor DeSantis, who previously proposed an "AI Bill of Rights" calling for similar protections, will review the bill, which Senator Bryan Avila sponsored. The efficacy of SB 484 will largely depend on the execution by state utilities and local governments like the Palm Beach County Commission, which will consider Project Tango before the state law is enacted.