California state Sen. Jerry McNerney introduced a bill Wednesday that would impose a surcharge on some data centers to offset infrastructure costs and rate increases driven by their exceptional power demands that might otherwise be passed on to other utility customers.
“Data center owners and their customers should bear the high costs associated with data centers, not California ratepayers,” McNerney (D) said in a statement.
The details: The legislation, SB 1168, would increase how much large data centers pay through an existing surcharge. Details spelling out which data centers would have to pay it and how much they’d be charged are expected to be hashed out as the bill moves through the committee process.
Under the terms of the proposed law, the additional money generated from the surcharge would be used to keep rates for California residents from rising as data centers consume massive amounts of electricity and demand more expensive infrastructure. The funds would also be used to reduce rates for low-income families.
