Senate Bill S8536

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S8536

SPONSOR: COMRIE
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the public  service law, in relation to prohibiting
electric corporations and gas corporations from increasing charges to
certain ratepayers due to the building or operation of a data center or
semiconductor fabrication plant

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

Prohibits utilities from passing along costs or increasing charges
resulting from the costs of capital expenditures or maintenance of
infrastructure resulting from the building or operation of a data center
or semiconductor fabrication plant except to those ratepayers involved
with or associated with the building or operation of such data center or
semiconductor fabrication plant.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 amends section 66 of the Public Service Law by adding a new
              

subdivision 33 which prohibits electric and gas corporations and utili-
ties from passing along costs or increasing charges to ratepayers for
electricity and natural gas, or any associated goods and services, as a
result of increased costs incurred by the electric corporation, gas
corporation, or utility due to the costs of capital expenditures or
maintained of infrastructure resulting from the building or operation of
a data center or semiconductor fabrication plant except to ratepayers
involved with or associated with the building or operation of such data
center or semiconductor fabrication plant.

Section 2 sets forth the effective date which shall be on the sixtieth
day after it shall have become a law.  Effective immediately, the addi-
tion, amendment and/or repeal of any rule of regulation necessary for
the implementation of this act on its effective date are authorized to
be made and completed on or before such effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

New York residents are dealing with never-ending utility rate increases.
Now, there is a new source of rising rates: the building and operation
of data centers powering artificial intelligence (AI) and semiconductor
fabrication (computer chip manufacturing) facilities.

Data centers and computer chip manufacturers require an extraordinary
amount of electricity to both build and operate their facilities, and
the increased use of electricity requires expensive upgrades to the
electrical grid.

An article in the August 17, 2025 Times Union reports: "Data centers
account for nearly half of electricity demand growth between now and
2030 (in the U.S.)," an April 2025 report from the International Energy
Agency stated. "By the end of the decade, the country is set to consume
more electricity for data centers than for the production of aluminum,
steel, cement, chemicals and all other energy-intensive goods combined."

The article continues: "Currently, data centers consume around 4% of
U.S. power. There are more than 100 data centers in New York that
consume 3% of the state's electricity. They could use '6.7 to 12% of
total U.S. electricity by 2028,' the U.S. Department of Energy reported
in late 2024."

This is not hypothetical. New York State has encouraged and attracted
major manufacturers and operators in these fields, including Micron's
huge semiconductor fabrication facility near Syracuse and the IBM quan-
tum data center in the Town of Poughkeepsie. There are 14 data centers
in the Capital District, as well as the Albany NanoTech Complex, which
is a major center for advanced semiconductor research and development.
There are other research and development centers, as well as planned
data centers, throughout the State.  In its August 21, 2023 report, the
Empire Center states, "Micron predicts it will use over 16,000 giga-
watt-hours of electricity annually. To get a sense of how much that is,
a gigawatt-hour is roughly the amount of energy produced by a single
large nuclear reactor in one hour. Micron's expected demand is almost
exactly what the two reactors at the Nine Mile Point nuclear plant
produce each year."

Current law allows utilities to pass the cost of increased capital
expenditures required to meet this new electrical demand and accompany-
ing grid upgrades on to consumers. This bill would mandate that these
capital costs would only be paid by those who are building or operating
the data centers and the semiconductor fabrication facilities.

Everyday consumers of electricity should not be subsidizing big tech's
increased electrical demand and related grid costs. The tech companies
benefiting from these capital expenditures by utilities should pay for
them. This bill requires just that.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

None. New bill.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:

None.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall have
become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or
repeal of any rule of regulation necessary for the implementation of
this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and completed
on or before such effective date.