Battle at the Supreme Court: Who Should Pay for Ohio’s Data Center Boom?

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A significant legal dispute has advanced to the Ohio Supreme Court, focusing on who will bear the financial burden for the extensive electrical infrastructure upgrades required by the rapidly expanding data center sector in Central Ohio. The Office of the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel (OCC) submitted a crucial brief on March 24, 2026, advocating for a state regulatory ruling that mandates data centers to largely fund the necessary infrastructure. The core of the case, Supreme Court Case No. 2025-1458, questions whether utilities or the data centers themselves should cover the costs of new power lines built to serve these energy-intensive facilities. In 2025, the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) sanctioned a new tariff for AEP Ohio, obligating large data centers to pay for at least 85% of their reserved energy, even if unused. This mechanism was designed to ensure that tech companies, rather than residential consumers, absorb the expenses of new transmission line construction. However, a consortium of industrial consumers and major tech companies, including Amazon, Google, and Microsoft, has challenged this decision before the Supreme Court, contending that these regulations are discriminatory and could impede economic growth within the state. Maureen Willis, the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel, emphasized in her filing that "Cost causers should pay their fair share" and that Ohio residents should not be burdened with these expenses. The OCC warns that if these rules are not enforced, the projected doubling of data center electricity demand in Central Ohio could lead to a substantial "hidden tax" on families, resulting in higher utility rates to finance specialized, high-voltage infrastructure primarily used by data centers.