SB 724 — An Act providing for regulation of large load customers and public utilities and for community benefits agreements between large load customers and community-based organizations; establishing the Data Center LIHEAP Enhancement Fund; and imposing duties on the Department of Human Services and the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission.

PRINTER'S NO.    1555

                   THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA



                        SENATE BILL
                        No. 724
                                                Session of
                                                  2026

     INTRODUCED BY L. WILLIAMS, COLLETT, KIM, KEARNEY, CAPPELLETTI,
        VOGEL, SAVAL AND COMITTA, MARCH 31, 2026

     REFERRED TO CONSUMER PROTECTION AND PROFESSIONAL LICENSURE,
        MARCH 31, 2026


                                   AN ACT
 1   Providing for regulation of large load customers and public
 2      utilities and for community benefits agreements between large
 3      load customers and community-based organizations;
 4      establishing the Data Center LIHEAP Enhancement Fund; and
 5      imposing duties on the Department of Human Services and the
 6      Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission.
 7      The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
 8   hereby enacts as follows:
 9   Section 1.   Short title.
10      This act shall be known and may be cited as the Data Center
11   Fair Share Act.
12   Section 2.   Definitions.
13      The following words and phrases when used in this act shall
14   have the meanings given to them in this section unless the
15   context clearly indicates otherwise:
16      "Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement."     The Bureau of
17   Investigation and Enforcement within the commission.
18      "Commission."   The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission.
19      "Community benefits agreement."     A legally binding contract
 1   negotiated and agreed to between developers and community-based
 2   organizations that serves to mitigate local impacts of
 3   development in which benefits are specific, measurable,
 4   actionable, relevant to the community's needs, time-bound and
 5   supported by the broader community.
 6      "Community-based organization."     A workforce development and
 7   training organization, labor union, local government entity,
 8   environmental advocacy organization or public or private
 9   nonprofit organization or entity that is representative of the
10   host community or a significant segment of the host community
11   and works to meet community needs.
12      "Fund."   The Data Center LIHEAP Enhancement Fund established
13   under section 5(a).
14      "Host community."    A municipality within which a large load
15   customer's facility is located and any other municipality within
16   a 10-mile radius of the facility's borders.
17      "Large load customer."    A facility, campus of facilities or
18   array of interconnected facilities in this Commonwealth that
19   meets all of the following criteria:
20          (1)   Is used by a business entity or other enterprise to
21      operate, manage or maintain a computer, group of computers or
22      other organized assembly of hardware and software for the
23      primary purpose of processing, storing, retrieving or
24      transmitting data.
25          (2)   Has a gross aggregate electric peak demand, not
26      reflecting any reductions attributable to co-located electric
27      generation, of 25 megawatts or greater.
28          (3)   Is interconnected to a public utility at a single
29      point of interconnection or multiple interconnection points
30      within 20 miles of each other or is interconnected to

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 1      multiple public utilities within this Commonwealth at
 2      multiple interconnection points within 20 miles of each
 3      other.
 4      "Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program" or "LIHEAP."      A
 5   federally funded program that provides financial assistance in
 6   the form of cash and crisis grants to low-income households for
 7   home energy bills and is administered by the Department of Human
 8   Services.
 9      "Public utility."     As defined in 66 Pa.C.S. § 102 (relating
10   to definitions).
11      "Ratepayer."     A retail customer of a public utility that
12   purchases electric service for consumption.
13      "Renewable energy."     Solar, wind energy, biomass or
14   hydroelectric power.
15      "Socially disadvantaged population."     A group whose members
16   have been subjected to racial, ethnic or gender prejudice
17   because of their identity as a member of the group.
18      "Universal service and energy conservation."     As defined in
19   66 Pa.C.S. §§ 2202 (relating to definitions) and 2803 (relating
20   to definitions).
21   Section 3.     Duties of commission.
22      (a)   Temporary regulations.--
23            (1)   In order to facilitate the prompt implementation of
24      this act, the commission shall promulgate temporary
25      regulations no later than 120 days after the effective date
26      of this paragraph, inclusive of a public comment period of at
27      least 30 days.
28            (2)   Temporary regulations under this subsection shall
29      expire not later than two years after publication.
30            (3)   The commission may promulgate temporary regulations

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 1      that are not subject to:
 2                  (i)    Section 612 of the act of April 9, 1929
 3            (P.L.177, No.175), known as The Administrative Code of
 4            1929.
 5                  (ii)    Sections 201, 202, 203, 204 and 205 of the act
 6            of July 31, 1968 (P.L.769, No.240), referred to as the
 7            Commonwealth Documents Law.
 8                  (iii)    Sections 204(b) and 301(10) of the act of
 9            October 15, 1980 (P.L.950, No.164), known as the
10            Commonwealth Attorneys Act.
11                  (iv)    The act of June 25, 1982 (P.L.633, No.181),
12            known as the Regulatory Review Act.
13            (4)   The commission's authority to promulgate temporary
14      regulations under this subsection shall expire two years
15      after the effective date of this paragraph. Prior to the
16      expiration of this authority, the commission shall initiate
17      the process to promulgate final regulations in accordance
18      with State law and subsection (b) so that the final
19      regulations take effect upon the expiration of the temporary
20      regulations or promulgation of the final regulations,
21      whichever occurs first.
22      (b)   Regulation requirements.--Regulations promulgated under
23   subsection (a) shall include, at a minimum, provisions relating
24   to all of the following:
25            (1)   Deposits or financial security required from large
26      load customers.
27            (2)   Calculations of contributions in aid of construction
28      for transmission and distribution infrastructure.
29            (3)   Minimum contract terms between large load customers
30      and public utilities that require a large load customer to

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 1    satisfy minimum contract terms for at least 15 years if the
 2    large load customer ceases operations or otherwise materially
 3    changes its service requirements.
 4        (4)     Load ramping schedules to ensure infrastructure
 5    adequacy.
 6        (5)     Exit or early termination fees.
 7        (6)     Measures to prevent circumvention of the large load
 8    customer's threshold through multiple facilities,
 9    interconnection points or metering points.
10        (7)     Utility tracking of all costs to serve large load
11    customers and verification that revenues collected exceed
12    costs incurred.
13        (8)     Curtailment of some or all of a large load
14    customer's load prior to the loads of other customer types to
15    the maximum extent practicable during emergency conditions.
16        (9)     Measures to limit the amount of electricity an
17    electric generation supplier as defined in 66 Pa.C.S. § 2803
18    (relating to definitions) can provide to a large load
19    customer to no more than 25% of the energy produced in a
20    calendar year.
21        (10)     An end-of-contract process providing sufficient
22    notice prior to the expiration, renewal or material
23    modification of a large load customer's service contract with
24    a public utility.
25        (11)     Requirements that large load customers contribute
26    to the public utility's universal service and energy
27    conservation program, consistent with the requirements for
28    those programs in 66 Pa.C.S. §§ 2203(6), (7), (8), (9) and
29    (10) (relating to standards for restructuring of natural gas
30    utility industry) and 2804(8) and (9) (relating to standards

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 1      for restructuring of electric industry).
 2            (12)    Adoption of a rebuttable presumption for cost
 3      recovery as provided under section 4(c).
 4            (13)    Minimum contract terms for and Bureau of
 5      Investigation and Enforcement enforcement of the requirement
 6      of large load customers to enter community benefits
 7      agreements under section 7.
 8            (14)    Certification and expedited interconnection
 9      standards under section 8.
10   Section 4.      Recovery of costs.
11      (a)   Cost recovery.--A public utility may not recover from
12   ratepayers that are not large load customers, whether through
13   base rates, riders, surcharges or any other ratemaking
14   mechanism, costs that would not have been incurred but for the
15   requirements of the large load customer.
16      (b)   Cost of service study.--A public utility that serves or
17   is reasonably expected to serve large load customers shall be
18   required to submit a full cost of service study when seeking a
19   rate increase under 66 Pa.C.S. § 1308 (relating to voluntary
20   changes in rates) to support the public utility's proposed
21   allocation of shared or indirect costs that benefit multiple
22   customer classes, including large load customers.
23      (c)   Rebuttable presumption.--
24            (1)    There shall be a rebuttable presumption that costs
25      as described in subsection (a) are exclusively for the
26      benefit of the large load customer and that the costs shall
27      be assigned to the large load customer.
28            (2)    A public utility may not assign costs to ratepayers
29      that are not large load customers based on generalized,
30      ancillary or theoretical benefits to those ratepayers absent

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 1      actual, quantifiable evidence demonstrating that the costs
 2      incurred were necessary for a purpose other than the
 3      electricity demand of the large load customer or where the
 4      costs incurred produce less value to such ratepayers, on a
 5      unitized basis, than the value that alternative public
 6      utility investment could have produced absent the
 7      requirements of the large load customer.
 8   Section 5.     Contributions to Low-Income Home Energy Assistance
 9                  Program.
10      (a)   Fund.--
11            (1)   The Data Center LIHEAP Enhancement Fund is
12      established as a separate fund in the State Treasury.
13            (2)   The Department of Human Services, in collaboration
14      with the State Treasurer, shall administer the fund.
15            (3)   The Department of Human Services shall use the money
16      from the fund to implement a supplemental program to enhance
17      the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program. The
18      supplemental program shall include a summer cooling
19      component.
20      (b)   Sources of money.--The fund shall consist of all of the
21   following:
22            (1)   Payments made under subsection (c).
23            (2)   Interest accrued on the money in the fund.
24            (3)   Money from any other source authorized for this
25      purpose by Federal or State law.
26      (c)   Annual payments.--No later than June 30 of each year,
27   each large load customer shall make a payment to the fund of
28   $10,000 per megawatt based on its gross aggregate electric peak
29   demand, not reflecting any reductions attributable to co-located
30   electric generation.

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 1      (d)   Continuing appropriation.--Money in the fund is
 2   appropriated on a continuing basis to the Department of Human
 3   Services for the purposes of this section.
 4      (e)   Regulations.--The Department of Human Services, in
 5   collaboration with the State Treasurer, shall promulgate
 6   regulations necessary to implement this section.
 7   Section 6.     Renewable energy requirements.
 8      A public utility that enters into a contract for electric
 9   service with a large load customer on or after the effective
10   date of this section shall ensure that not less than 25% of the
11   electricity supplied under the contract is generated from
12   incremental renewable energy sources that have been certified by
13   the commission, consistent with section 8, to constitute
14   incremental additions of accredited unforced capacity.
15   Section 7.     Local agreements.
16      (a)   Community benefits agreement party requirements.--
17            (1)   A large load customer shall enter into one community
18      benefits agreement with at least three community-based
19      organizations that serve residents of the host municipalities
20      and have operated in the host communities for at least three
21      years.
22            (2)   At least half of the community-based organizations'
23      signatories must have a mission to serve socially
24      disadvantaged populations. Documentation of the community-
25      based organizations' mission to serve socially disadvantaged
26      populations shall include the community-based organizations'
27      articles of incorporation or an affidavit describing
28      organizational activities, partnership activities, business
29      plans, historical documents, curricula and any other relevant
30      programming.

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 1      (b)   Community benefits agreement contents.--A large load
 2   customer shall pay an amount to be determined by the parties and
 3   memorialized in the community benefits agreement under
 4   subsection (a). The amount to be paid shall not be less than 10%
 5   of the overall cost of the project and can be made in one-time
 6   or recurring payments. Residents of the host community shall be
 7   the intended beneficiaries of the community benefits agreement.
 8   The specific terms of community benefits agreements may vary and
 9   may include any of the following:
10            (1)   Workforce development, job quality and job access
11      provisions that include:
12                  (i)    Terms of employment, including wages and
13            benefits, employment status, workplace health and safety,
14            scheduling and career advancement opportunities.
15                  (ii)    Worker recruitment, screening and hiring
16            strategies and practices, targeted hiring planning and
17            execution, investment in workforce training,
18            apprenticeships and education and worker input and
19            representation in decision making affecting employment
20            and training.
21            (2)   Funding for or provision of specific environmental
22      benefits that do not primarily benefit the large load
23      customer, including monitoring and strengthening
24      environmental or public health plans and actions.
25            (3)   Funding for public infrastructure projects and
26      public safety, including annual contributions to local fire
27      and first responders, to compensate for increased need of
28      specialized training and gear.
29            (4)   Funding for or provision of specific community
30      improvements or amenities, including park and playground

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 1      equipment, urban greening, enhanced safety crossings, paving
 2      roads and bike paths.
 3            (5)    Funding for affordable housing, home repair,
 4      efficiency and weatherization programs.
 5            (6)    Commitments to periodically meet with community-
 6      based organizations and the public to review monitoring
 7      reports on electricity consumption, water consumption, water
 8      discharge and air pollution.
 9            (7)    Financial assistance to assist municipal or citizen-
10      led air and water quality monitoring.
11            (8)    Funding that supports individuals or community-based
12      organizations from the host community to intervene in public
13      utility ratepayer cases.
14            (9)    Funding to a nonprofit or community-based
15      organization.
16            (10)    Funding and reimbursement of costs for technical
17      assistance and support, including consulting attorneys,
18      consulting other community-based organizations, negotiation
19      trainings, facilitator services, monitoring activities and
20      any other services the community-based organization deems
21      relevant.
22      (c)   Effect of agreements.--
23            (1)    A community benefits agreement shall be legally
24      binding and inure to the benefit of the parties and their
25      successors and assigns.
26            (2)    Nothing in this act shall prevent a municipality
27      from enacting local ordinances with additional community
28      benefits.
29      (d)   Community benefits agreement public meeting
30   requirement.--

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 1            (1)   Prior to community-based organizations proffering
 2      signatures, a large load customer must hold a public meeting
 3      to discuss the drafted contents of the agreement with the
 4      host community. The large load customer shall publish notice
 5      of the public meeting in a local newspaper of general
 6      circulation and on the large load customer's publicly
 7      accessible Internet website at least two weeks in advance but
 8      not more than one month prior to the public meeting date.
 9            (2)   The large load customer shall make available the
10      full content of the agreement prior to the start of the
11      public meeting by posting the agreement to the large load
12      customer's publicly accessible Internet website and printing
13      paper copies for public meeting attendees.
14      (e)   Enforcement.--
15            (1)   A large load customer shall file a copy of each
16      community benefits agreement with the Bureau of Investigation
17      and Enforcement. The Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement
18      shall review the community benefits agreement and certify
19      that the community benefits agreement satisfies the signatory
20      requirements.
21            (2)   The Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement shall
22      maintain a public database of all executed community benefits
23      agreements in this Commonwealth.
24   Section 8.     Certification and expedited interconnection for
25                  large load customers bringing incremental energy
26                  resources.
27      (a)   Certification program.--
28            (1)   The commission shall establish a program to certify
29      large load customers that have brought or plan to bring
30      incremental energy resources.

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 1            (2)   Certification shall be based on a binding financial
 2      commitment by a large load customer, including a power
 3      purchase agreement, to enable an incremental energy resource
 4      or resources, located within the territory of PJM
 5      Interconnection, L.L.C., or its successors, equivalent on a
 6      one-for-one accredited unforced capacity basis, including a
 7      reasonable reserve margin, tied to the large load customer's
 8      ramp and utilization schedule, through any combination of the
 9      following:
10                  (i)    Placement in service of a new generation
11            resource or combined generation and storage resource.
12                  (ii)    Uprate or expansion of an existing generation
13            resource to the extent of the uprated capacity.
14                  (iii)    Participation in a demand response product, if
15            participation continues for the duration of the
16            certification period or until the large load customer has
17            brought additional energy capacity equivalent to the
18            capacity value of the demand response product.
19                  (iv)    Another incremental addition of accredited
20            unforced capacity as measured by the applicable regional
21            transmission organization or independent system operator.
22      (b)   Interconnection priority.--The commission shall require
23   electric distribution companies to prioritize the
24   interconnection of large load customers certified under
25   subsection (a) and, for interconnections subject to State
26   jurisdiction, to prioritize the interconnection of paired
27   generation resources or storage resources associated with a
28   certified large load customer.
29   Section 9.     Transparency, filing and enforcement.
30      (a)   Filing requirement.--

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 1            (1)   A public utility shall file with the commission a
 2      copy of each contract executed with a large load customer,
 3      including a copy of its community benefits agreements, upon
 4      certification by the Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement
 5      under section 7, on or after the effective date of this
 6      paragraph.
 7            (2)   The public utility shall include with the filing
 8      sufficient documentation to permit the commission to conduct
 9      the review under paragraph (3).
10            (3)   The commission shall review each contract under
11      paragraph (1) to determine all of the following:
12                  (i)    The impact on the grid system of PJM
13            Interconnection, L.L.C., regional transmission
14            organization or its successor.
15                  (ii)    The effect on the reliability of that grid
16            system.
17                  (iii)    The impact on ratepayers.
18                  (iv)    Compliance with the requirements of this act.
19            (4)   A public utility shall provide a copy of a contract
20      filed under this section to the Office of Consumer Advocate,
21      the Office of Small Business Advocate and the Bureau of
22      Investigation and Enforcement.
23      (b)   Void contract provisions.--Any provision of a contract,
24   agreement or similar instrument executed with a large load
25   customer on or after the effective date of this subsection shall
26   be void and unenforceable if the provision has the purpose or
27   effect of either:
28            (1)   preventing the commission, the Bureau of
29      Investigation and Enforcement or a public utility from
30      carrying out their duties under this act; or

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1            (2)   preventing or restricting the disclosure of any
2      terms of the contract.
3      (c)   Enforcement.--A violation of this act shall be subject
4   to enforcement by the commission and the Bureau of Investigation
5   and Enforcement under 66 Pa.C.S. Ch. 33 (relating to violations
6   and penalties).
7   Section 10.    Effective date.
8      This act shall take effect in 60 days.




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