State governments stepped further into data-center policy this week. On Wednesday in Lakeland, Governor Ron DeSantis signed Florida's first comprehensive data-center accountability law — protecting ratepayers, preserving local zoning authority, and setting Florida's first statutory rules for hyperscale facilities. North Carolina lawmakers from both parties have four bills moving in Raleigh and at least seven local governments running moratoriums of up to 32 months. And on Thursday's earnings call, the CEO of one of New England's largest investor-owned utilities went on the record to say his company is “resisting data centers” — the most direct public no from a major utility executive this cycle.
In Lakeland on Wednesday, Governor Ron DeSantis signed SB 484 into law. The bill prohibits utilities from passing data-center costs — including electricity costs — onto residential and small business customers, requires large-scale users to pay their full cost of service, and preserves local government authority over zoning, permitting, and land use. Communities can set stricter standards or deny projects outright. The law also requires public disclosure of data-center development deals after the exemption period, prohibits utilities from serving data centers owned or controlled by foreign countries of concern, and creates a dedicated permitting process that allows the use of reclaimed water.
"Today in Lakeland, I signed legislation to protect our citizens and communities from hyperscale data centers," DeSantis said in a statement. "These are much-needed protections for taxpayers and our natural resources. SB 484 ensures that local governments maintain the authority to reject data center development in their communities, prevents data center costs from being passed on to consumers, including electricity costs, and protects Florida's water resources from data center consumption."
Florida is the first state to put a comprehensive package — ratepayer protection, mandatory full-cost service, preserved local authority, transparency, foreign-ownership ban, and a dedicated permitting process — into a single signed law this cycle.
Source: Office of the Governor of Florida.
North Carolina lawmakers from both parties are working on data-center legislation this session. The state currently extends a sales-tax exemption on data-center electricity and equipment that the NC Department of Commerce estimates at about $50 million a year — and that, if all proposed projects come online, would balloon to about $450 million a year. Democratic Governor Josh Stein has asked the legislature to repeal the exemption.
"We must be clear-eyed about the cost of data centers to ratepayers in terms of higher power bills, and clear about their cost to taxpayers in terms of lost revenue," Stein said at an April Energy Policy Task Force meeting.
Republican House Speaker Destin Hall agreed Thursday: "Now they've proliferated everywhere, so I don't know that there needs to be an incentive to get more of them here. Big companies like that, they ought to pay the same taxes as any other business."
Four bills are now moving. House Bill 1063 — the “Ratepayer and Resource Protection Act" — would repeal the existing tax exemptions and require data-center owners to file disclosure statements with the Department of Environmental Quality, the Utilities Commission, and local governments, including projected electricity and water consumption. Senate Bill 844 — the “Affordable Energy Omnibus" — would require Utilities Commission approval and a local referendum for future large-scale projects, and bar utilities like Duke Energy from disconnecting residential customers in extreme weather. House Bill 1180 — “Data Center Amendments" — would require the Utilities Commission to enact tariffs on large-load data centers. House Bill 1189 — the “Datacenter Transparency Act" — would put a two-year statewide moratorium on data-center permits while the General Assembly evaluates impacts.
Local moratoriums are spreading. Apex, Chatham County, Gates County, and the town of Canton in Haywood County have all passed 12-month moratoriums in recent months. The Durham City Council approved a 60-day pause on Monday. Harnett County and the town of Spring Hope in Nash County voted for one-year moratoriums earlier this week. Northampton County authorized a 32-month pause — the longest local moratorium in any state this cycle.
Source: NC Newsline (republished by Pennsylvania Capital-Star).
Eversource Energy CEO Joe Nolan, on the company's first-quarter earnings call Thursday, said publicly that he is “not interested” in data-center development in his service territory because it is “only going to drive up the price of energy.” It is the most direct public no from a major investor-owned utility CEO this cycle.
"It's of no value to our residential customer — actually, any customer," Nolan said. "If you look at the volatility in ISO New England, there's not a very volatile market compared to PJM. So, I feel good about it."
Nolan paired the resistance with the offshore-wind story. "I continue to be encouraged by the number of requests that we're getting to inject into our system," he said. "These [are] clean energy resources, whether it's the hydro or the offshore wind. Obviously, I love more generation — I wish we had a dozen more combined-cycle plants built here, but I think we're still very well positioned, and we're not going to see the volatility that some of these other exchanges are seeing."
The 700-MW Revolution Wind project began delivering power to the grid in March and is now about 95% complete. The 800-MW Vineyard Wind project completed construction the same month. Eversource's quarterly filing reports that ISO-New England average market prices for Connecticut Light and Power's wholesale sales rose to $112.71 per megawatt-hour in the first quarter of 2026, up from $99.02 the year before.
Source: Utility Dive.
The Evergy IRP filings made Thursday by Evergy Metro and Evergy Missouri West are the cleanest example this quarter of a regulated utility rewriting its long-term resource plan in real time to substitute gas for renewables under data-center load. The two utilities now plan 4.7 gigawatts of gas-fired generation by 2044, up from 3.7 gigawatts a year ago. They eliminated their planned 2.4 gigawatts of wind. They cut planned solar from 2,415 megawatts to 465 megawatts. They are also delaying power-plant retirements. Evergy CEO David Campbell told investors retail sales will now grow 7% to 8% a year through 2030, up from a previous 6% forecast — driven by data-center additions. Total contracted large-load demand is at 2.5 gigawatts and rising.
The utilities cited reduced production tax credit eligibility under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, roughly 30% higher renewable development costs, and local siting and permitting challenges as the reasons for the renewable cuts.
"We anticipate robust growth in the commercial and industrial classes throughout 2026, given the continued ramps of large customers, including the data center project that energized in March," said Evergy CFO Bryan Buckler.
Source: Utility Dive.
Have a tip? The Docket tracks zoning hearings, ordinance drafts, rate cases, transmission disputes, and community organizing efforts that often don't reach print. Send leads to tips@developmentdocket.com. Sources protected by default.
This is a daily signals brief from Development Docket. The Docket's full editorial standards apply to attribution, sourcing, and corrections. Briefs do not include “Community Takeaways” or “What You Can Do” sections — those appear in the Docket's longer pieces.
We'll email you when there's a story about energy or data center development near you.