North Carolina HB 1063: Fund VIPER Tower Hardware Upgrades.

Bill Text

GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION 2025
H 1
HOUSE BILL 1063

Short Title: Ratepayer and Resource Protection Act. (Public)
Sponsors: Representatives Prather, Johnson-Hostler, Longest, and Helfrich (Primary
Sponsors).
For a complete list of sponsors, refer to the North Carolina General Assembly web site.
Referred to: Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House
April 28, 2026
*H1063-v-1*
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1
AN ACT TO REGULATE LARGE-SCALE DATA CENTERS IN ORDER TO PROTECT 2
RATEPAYERS, WATER RESOURCES, AND GRID RELIABILITY; TO REQUIRE 3
ON-SITE CLEAN GENERATION, COST-BASED RATES, INFRASTRUCTURE COST 4
RESPONSIBILITY, DISCLOSURES, AND REPORTING FOR CERTAIN DATA 5
CENTERS; TO LIMIT STATE AND LOCAL INCENTIVES FOR DATA CENTERS; AND 6
TO MAKE RELATED CHANGES TO PUBLIC UTILITIES LAW. 7
Whereas, North Carolina's electric and water utility systems are essential public 8
services relied upon daily by households, small businesses, and local governments across the 9
State; and 10
Whereas, the rapid growth of large-scale data centers imposes unusually large and 11
concentrated demands on electric generation, transmission, distribution, and water infrastructure; 12
and 13
Whereas, when the extraordinary infrastructure and resource demands created by such 14
facilities are not fully borne by the facilities themselves, those costs are shifted onto residential 15
customers, small businesses, and local governments through higher utility rates and increased 16
public expenditures, exacerbating cost-of-living pressures statewide; and 17
Whereas, existing economic development incentive programs were not designed to 18
subsidize facilities whose operations require outsized public investments in energy and water 19
infrastructure without proportionate public benefit; and 20
Whereas, the General Assembly is responsible for protecting North Carolinians from 21
rising utility bills and ensuring affordability by preventing cost-shifting, protecting ratepayers, 22
and ensuring that data centers bear the full cost of the energy, water, and infrastructure required 23
to support their operations; Now, therefore, 24
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts: 25
26
REGULATION OF DATA CENTERS 27
SECTION 1.(a) Chapter 62 of the General Statutes is amended by adding a new 28
Article to read: 29
"Article 6C. 30
"Data Centers. 31
"§ 62-129. Definitions and application of terms. 32
For purposes of this Article, the following definitions apply: 33

General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2025
Page 2 House Bill 1063-First Edition
(1) Data center. – A facility or group of co-located facilities under common 1
ownership or control used to house computer systems, servers, network 2
equipment, and associated infrastructure for the storage, processing, or 3
transmission of data. Facilities under common ownership or control, or that 4
are operationally or contractually integrated, whether located on one or 5
multiple parcels, shall constitute one "data center" for purposes of determining 6
the applicability of any threshold, requirement, limitation, or fee pursuant to 7
this Article. 8
(2) Large data center. – A data center that (i) has a projected peak electricity 9
demand of 40 megawatts or greater or (ii) has a projected annual water 10
consumption in excess of one billion liters. 11
(3) On-site clean generation. – Electric generation that is both (i) directly 12
interconnected with a data center and (ii) produced by a clean energy facility 13
or clean energy resource as those terms are defined in G.S. 62-133.8. 14
"§ 62-129.1. Preconstruction disclosure; certificate to operate a large data center. 15
(a) Preconstruction Disclosure Statement. – Prior to beginning construction on any new 16
data center, the owner or operator of a proposed data center shall submit a preconstruction 17
disclosure statement, in a form prescribed by the Commission, to the Commission, the 18
Department of Environmental Quality, and each local government in whose jurisdiction the data 19
center would be sited. The preconstruction disclosure statement shall include all of the following 20
information, supported by clear and credible evidence: 21
(1) The projected peak electricity demand. 22
(2) The projected annual electricity consumption. 23
(3) The projected annual water consumption. 24
(4) A detailed description of any cooling technologies to be used in the operation 25
of the data center. 26
(5) A detailed description of any on-site clean generation to be used in the 27
operation of the data center. 28
(b) Certificate of Operation for Large Data Centers. – No person shall begin the 29
construction or operation of a large data center without having applied for and obtained a 30
certificate of operation from the Commission. The application for a certificate to operate a large 31
data center shall be made in a form prescribed by the Commission and accompanied by the fee 32
required pursuant to G.S. 62-300(a)(18). The Commission may, after notice and an opport