A trio of data center bills filed in the Senate

The South Carolina Senate has introduced three new data center regulatory bills in response to concerns about the impact of data centers on ratepayers and local communities. S.867 is the most comprehensive bill, creating a new Data Center Development Office to oversee permitting and regulate data centers based on their energy and water usage. The bill also provides incentives for data centers to use brownfield sites. S.784 aims to reinstate ratepayer protections that were removed from previous energy legislation, and requires 15-year contracts for large commercial data centers. S.902 is similar to S.867 but has weaker ratepayer protections. The legislature should advance S.784 and determine whether to move forward with S.867 or S.902. Key issues to address include the appropriate permitting authority, the cost of brownfield incentives, and ensuring ratepayers are not responsible for financing new infrastructure for data centers.