Legislators tap brakes on bill shifting costs to data centers

by Alexa Barnes, Capital News Service –    

A House Labor and Commerce subcommittee recommended continuing until next session a measure to have data centers pay for associated infrastructure and energy costs, instead of passing them onto residential customers.

Legislators have grappled this session with how to regulate the industry’s intense demands on state and local energy infrastructure as data centers proliferate across Virginia with no sign of slowing.

Del. John McAuliff, D-Fauquier, introduced House Bill 503 to prohibit utility companies from passing energy costs onto households. The junior delegate campaigned strongly last year on minimizing the impact…