Since New York's legislature passed its one-year moratorium on large data centers earlier this week, the rest of the country has been scrambling to figure out what to do about an industry that 71 percent of Americans, according to Gallup, say they don't want in their backyard.

New York Is Waiting on Hochul

The New York moratorium — the first statewide ban of its kind if it becomes law — applies to any facility with peak demand of at least 20 megawatts. Governor Kathy Hochul has until December to sign or veto it, according to Bloomberg Government. She has said nothing publicly.

The bill requires an environmental impact report covering electricity, water, land use, and pollution. It also forces companies to hold and fund public hearings at least three months before seeking approval. Transparency requirements give communities a voice in the approval process.

The moratorium itself is broad. The New York Independent System Operator is currently reviewing 24 data center proposals totaling over 9,000 megawatts, according to News10 ABC. Freezing all of that for a year postpones decisions on the issue while other states move forward.

Maine tried something similar. Its legislature passed a ban that would have lasted until late 2027. Democratic Governor Janet Mills vetoed it, according to The New York Times, because it lacked an exemption for a previously approved project. The veto showed the complications of blunt bans when existing commitments are already in place.

North Carolina's Bill Has Good Ideas and a Dangerous One

North Carolina's Senate is considering the Ratepayer Protection Act. It has real merit in places — and a potentially catastrophic provision buried inside.

The good: the bill prohibits local tax credits for data centers. No more governments bribing corporations with taxpayer money to set up shop. Some AI companies have already voluntarily committed to financing grid upgrades, and President Trump has called for that to be the industry standard. The bill codifies it by requiring data centers to contractually cover all service-related costs. Retail customers shouldn't subsidize billion-dollar tech infrastructure.

The bill also requires noise assessments for schools and homes within 500 feet of any project demanding 100 megawatts or more. That's straightforward regulation.

The dangerous part: the bill bars utilities from retiring any power plant generating more than 100 megawatts until a utility receives regulatory approval to build a new 1,000 megawatt nuclear facility, according to Reason. There are five electric utilities in North Carolina. Only Duke Energy has plans for a new nuclear plant — and that plant won't be online until 2036, and falls short of the 1,000 MW threshold.

This means aging, expensive power plants stay open indefinitely. Aging coal plants would remain in operation longer than utilities intended. In Michigan, a federal emergency order has forced a coal plant to operate more than a year past its retirement date. The Environmental Defense Fund estimates that could cost Michigan ratepayers $180 million in additional costs. A similar rule in North Carolina could produce comparable outcomes at scale.

And nobody is talking about who pays for the nuclear plant itself. In Georgia, ratepayers covered $7.56 billion of the $10.2 billion needed to complete two 1,000 MW plants — paid through higher utility bills, according to Reason. North Carolina's bill doesn't appear to account for that startup capital at all.

Texas Is Taking a Different Path

Texas is considering market-based rules rather than mandates, according to Reason. The details are still being drafted, but the philosophical direction differs from what New York and North Carolina are pursuing.

Market-based approaches that make data centers pay true costs — without also forcing utilities to keep uneconomical plants alive — address the core issue. Government shouldn't pick energy winners. It should ensure costs land where they belong.

Understanding the Stakes

Data centers are enormous electricity consumers. If developers don't pay the full cost of grid infrastructure, those costs get spread across every household on the utility's network. That becomes a regressive cost on regular people to subsidize tech companies.

Left-leaning outlets focus on the environmental moratorium angle. Right-leaning outlets treat all regulation as automatically problematic. The practical question is simpler: who bears the bill.

What This Means for You

If you live in New York, your state just hit pause on 9,000+ megawatts of proposed capacity. Whether that helps or hurts your electricity bill depends entirely on what Hochul does and what the impact report finds.

If you live in North Carolina, watch the nuclear provision. If it passes as written, you could be paying to keep old coal plants running for a decade while waiting for a nuclear plant that may never hit the required threshold.

The actual costs will show up in utility bills.