Beshear Issues Statewide Rules for Data Centers to Protect Ratepayers

Overview

• Gov. Andy Beshear signed an executive order on Thursday that requires data center developers to submit energy plans proving they will not raise local electric bills and directs the Kentucky Public Service Commission to reject utility rate increases tied to data centers.
• The order tells the Energy and Environment Cabinet to deny permit applications that would harm air quality, water resources, federal wetlands, or other natural resources and to require developers to show compliance with environmental laws.
• Developers must engage in transparent public discussions with local leaders and residents about site location, impacts, and jobs and must pay their share of state, local, and school taxes without changing existing tax laws.
• The order preserves local control by leaving existing moratoriums and local decisions in place and follows more than 30 Kentucky communities that have already adopted ordinances or pauses on data center construction.
• Lawmakers from both parties praised the protections but said the next step is to write them into statute so regulators have clearer, binding authority and to shape how Kentucky responds to the wider regional and federal debate over AI campus and grid impacts.