Tennessee legislation · 114th General Assembly
Tennessee HB1847: AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 5; Title 6; Title 7; Title 13 and Title 65, relative to data centers.
Status: Chaptered, May 18, 2026
Fiscal Summary OTHER FISCAL IMPACT The amount of any cost avoidance that will be experienced by the state, local governments, and utilities statewide cannot be quantified, but is reasonably estimated to exceed $10,000,000. Bill Summary This bill requires the owner or operator of a data center, including a proposed data center or an existing data center seeking expansion, to pay for the full cost of infrastructure needed to support the data center, including expansions or upgrades to existing utility infrastructure necessary to both support the proposed or existing data center and continue providing the same services to the utility's existing customers. However, this provision does not prohibit a local government, the state, or a utility from entering into an agreement regarding infrastructure needed to support the data center as long as the agreement does not allow the cost of infrastructure to be paid for by an entity or individual other than the owner or operator of the data center. This bill requires an electric utility to do both of the following: Conduct the electric utility's ratemaking to ensure that the cost of infrastructure needed to support provision of electric services to a data center, including a proposed data center or an existing data center seeking expansion, and provision of electric services to such data center, is paid solely by the owner or operator of the data center. Not raise the rate charged to residential customers or other commercial or industrial customers due to increased electric demand caused by a proposed data center, existing data center, or expansion of an existing data center. This bill prohibits an electric utility from distributing the cost, or otherwise requiring an affected electric membership or power distribution group or organization to pay, for the cost of infrastru
What the bill says
From the amended text:
Senate Commerce and Labor 1 Amendment No. 1 to SB2128 Bailey Signature of Sponsor AMEND S e n ate Bill No. 2128 House Bill No. 1847* by deleting all language after the enacting clause and substituting: SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 7, is amended by adding the following as a new chapter: 7-70-101. Chapter definitions. As used in this chapter: (1) "Cost of electrical infrastructure" means the costs, capitalized under generally accepted accounting principles, of purchasing, constructing, installing, or equipping infrastructure that are incurred by a developer, owner, or operator of a data center, a municipality, or an electric utility and that would not be incurred but for the actual or expected increase in electric demand resulting from a newly constructed or expanded data center; (2) "Data center": (A) Means a building that: (i) Primarily contains: (a) Electronic equipment used to process, store, or transmit digital information; and (b) Environmental control equipment necessary to maintain proper operating conditions for the electronic equipment described in subdivision (2)(A)(i)(a); and SA1006 (ii) Is projected to have a peak electric demand of fifty megawatts (50 MW) or more during the first three (3) years of operation; and (B) Does not or (ii) A facility owned or operated by a provider of telecommunications, broadband, internet, cable, mobile, or wireless telecommunications services, or by a …