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Committee briefed on local tools and tariff options to limit data‑center impacts
Summary
Presenters and staff discussed local levers — community benefit agreements, zoning and procurement conditions — alongside utility tools (tariffs, minimum billing, bespoke resources and financial security) to allocate costs and reduce risks to ratepayers.
Presenters told the committee that many concerns about environmental impacts and equity fall outside the narrow scope of the Public Service Commission and are best addressed through local policy tools and state statutory changes. Corey Singletary said the PSC can require data centers to pay contribution amounts within rate cases, but land use, zoning and community benefit agreements (CBAs) are tools municipalities can pursue.
Singletary and staff described tariff and contract mechanisms used in Wisconsin to allocate risk: posted tariffs that are publicly inspectable, minimum billing demands, long contract lengths, bespoke resource subscriptions and termination charges. Office of Energy and Climate Change staff and other members recommended exploring CBAs and university workshops to design enforceable local agreements and noted possible needs for statutory changes to make those agreements more enforceable.
