PUCO orders AEP Ohio to require 180 days' notice from data centers before grid connection

The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio issued an order on 5 August 2026 directing AEP Ohio to require data center customers to provide 180 days' notice before connecting to the utility's grid^[1]. The ruling grants AEP Ohio's request for additional ratepayer protections and adds a new procedural layer on top of the large-load tariff the commission approved in July 2025.

What the order requires

Data center customers must give AEP Ohio 180 days' notice of their intent to return to default service - the Standard Service Offer (SSO) - before drawing power from the grid. Upon receiving that notice, AEP Ohio will procure the required energy through stand-alone auctions or spot-market purchases, with the entire cost assigned to the data center customer^[1]. The mechanism is designed to prevent a large load from appearing on the grid without warning and forcing the utility - and ultimately other customers - to absorb the cost of emergency procurement.

Ohio law bars AEP Ohio from generating its own electricity, so the utility is compelled to serve any customer in its territory that cannot secure its own supply. The 180-day window gives the company time to run a competitive procurement rather than buying power at short notice on the spot market.

PUCO Chair Jenifer French framed the order as a continuation of the commission's broader cost-protection agenda: "Ohio is fully committed to protecting customers from added costs related to data center buildout. Today's action builds upon the PUCO's efforts to create separate rate classes for data center customers, and the commitments under the Ratepayer Protection Pledge."^[1]

The tariff it builds on

The new notice requirement layers onto the Schedule DCT tariff PUCO approved on 9 July 2025^[1]. That tariff:

• Applies to any new data center customer with peak demand above 25 MW
• Requires payment for at least 85% of contracted capacity each month, regardless of actual consumption
• Mandates a 12-year contract term with early-termination penalties
• Requires collateral equal to 50% of minimum charges unless strict credit standards are met

The financial commitments embedded in the DCT had an immediate effect on the queue. AEP Ohio's pipeline of proposed data center load fell from more than 30 GW to 5,642 MW of signed Electric Service Agreements after the tariff took effect. Of that committed load, 4,842 MW is in central Ohio and 800 MW elsewhere in the service territory, with projected in-service dates by 2030.

Why Ohio is under pressure

Ohio is home to roughly 200 data centers, with approximately half concentrated in central Ohio. The state ranks among the top six nationally by facility count, and companies have signalled plans to invest up to $40 billion more in Ohio data centers by 2030. AEP Ohio's data center load grew from approximately 100 MW in 2020 to 600 MW by 2024, with projections pointing to 5 GW by 2030.

The pace of growth has pushed up generation costs that flow through to all customers. Columbus-area residential electric bills were more than 7% higher in August 2026 than at the same point in 2025. AEP Ohio has also said customers' bills rose by an average of $27 per month in the summer of 2025 due to increased generation costs.

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine joined 22 other governors in signing President Trump's voluntary Ratepayer Protection Pledge, a non-binding commitment that now has more than 200 signatories seeking to ensure that US ratepayers are not saddled with the costs of AI data center buildout^[1].

What to watch

The 180-day notice rule and the DCT tariff together represent one of the more structured state-level frameworks for managing large-load interconnection in PJM territory - comparable in intent, if different in mechanism, to the direct-assignment tariff Virginia's SCC recently ordered Dominion Energy to develop. The Data Center Coalition, which represents Google, Amazon, Microsoft and others, has previously opposed AEP Ohio's tariff structure, arguing it inflates costs and discourages investment. Whether the new notice requirement draws a fresh legal challenge - or prompts further queue attrition beyond the 5,642 MW of committed load - will be the near-term test of how much friction Ohio's regulatory stack can absorb before development shifts to neighbouring states.