OKLAHOMA CITY – Several measures designed to regulate data centers have been introduced in the Oklahoma Legislature this year.
For example, House Bill 3917 would require “large load” data centers to pay a surcharge during peak demand periods, protecting residential customers from rate increases and funding grid modernization.
The bill defines a “large load data center” as a facility that, among other things, “requires, or is projected to require, a monthly demand of at least 50 megawatts.”
The bill, authored by Rep. Mickey Dollens, D-Oklahoma City, was endorsed unanimously Monday by the House Appropriations and Budget Natural Resources Subcommittee, and was referred to the full House A&B Committee.
The proposed law would require data centers to pay a surcharge during peak demand periods, which would protect residential and commercial customers from rate hikes and would help finance modernization of the electric grid.
“Simply put, customers who use more energy should be charged for that energy,” Dollens asserted.
Senate Bill 1488 by Sen. Kendal Sacchieri, R-Blanchard, would impose a moratorium on “the building or establishing of data centers” in Oklahoma for almost four years, until Nov. 1, 2029.
SB 1488 would define a “data center” as “a facility that is designed to have a load of 100 megawatts or more, and the primary purpose of which is the storage, management, and processing of digital data via the interconnection and operation of information technology and network telecommunications equipment, including all related facilities and infrastructure for backup electricity generation, power distribution, environmental control, cooling, and security.”
Before the 2029 deadline, the Corporation Commission – which regulates public utilities in Oklahoma – would be instructed to conduct a study on “the potential impacts that data centers might have” on the water supplies of this state, including aquifers, streams, lakes, and wastewater treatment plants; utility rates; and property values “within a three-mile radius of a proposed data center.”
SB 1488 was referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee.
House Bill 2992 by Rep. Brad Boles, R-Marlow, would create the Data Center Consumer Ratepayer Protection Act of 2026.
As amended in committee, HB 2992 would define a “large load customer” as “new data centers, new cryptocurrency mining operations and new artifi cial-intelligence computing facilities that contract with an electric supplier to add 75 megawatts or greater per facility…” The legislation also would require “separate tariffs applicable to such large load customers.”
Boles told Southwest Ledger that his intent is to require data centers themselves to pay for their increased energy consumption.
“With more than a dozen potential new data centers planning to locate in Oklahoma that we are aware of at this point, we have to make sure everyday Oklahomans are not stuck paying the price of the electricity use due to these new data centers,” the lawmaker said in a press release.
A bill by Tulsa Rep. Amanda Clinton proposes a study by the Corporation Commission on the impact of large energy users.
Rep. Jim Shaw of Chandler has also filed a measure addressing large loads, loosely defined as the amount of electrical power needed for large industrial sites, including data centers. Such loads are far greater than the electricity required for residential customers.
Oklahoma’s Corporation Commissioners have repeatedly discussed the issue as they considered rate hike requests from utilities and reviewed the impact of rising energy demand across the state.
Data centers and other large loads with service agreements are driving up demand expectations across the service territories of American Electric Power utilities, especially in Texas, company officials said recently during a fourth-quarter earnings call. That in turn is helping drive the company’s capital expenditure plans, they said. AEP subsidiaries include Public Service Co. of Oklahoma.
The growth of large industrial users, particularly data centers, has become a central factor in long-term planning for grid reliability and cost allocation.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is also examining the issue nationally. A report is expected later this year as regulators study how to accelerate interconnection timelines for large-load customers while maintaining grid reliability.
Large-load growth has raised questions about how quickly utilities can add generation and transmission capacity, and how those costs should be distributed among residential, commercial and industrial customers.
The topic drew national attention during discussions at the DETECH 2026 convention in San Diego, where regulators joined utility experts and technology providers to examine supply chain constraints and the rapid expansion of data centers.
Jason Handley of Danovo Energy Solutions said the pace of growth is intensifying nationwide. “In one year, [the U.S.] put 500 more data centers in,” Handley said, citing national data. “The exponential curve there is pretty high.”