Data centers: power usage effectiveness: cost shifts.

Assembly Member Bauer-Kahan's data center energy monitoring legislation requires California's data centers to report their power usage effectiveness ratios to state regulators while directing comprehensive assessments of their impact on electrical costs and grid demands. The bill establishes a biannual reporting system through which data center owners must submit their ratio of total energy consumption to IT equipment energy use to the California Energy Commission.

The Energy Commission must incorporate data center electrical load trends into its 2027 integrated energy policy report, including future load projections, peak demand patterns, and recommendations for reducing grid impacts through efficiency and demand response measures. While allowing aggregate reporting of energy consumption data, the bill prohibits disclosure of information that could identify specific utility customers or their usage patterns.

The California Public Utilities Commission must evaluate how new data center electrical loads affect costs for other utility customers, examining both energy procurement expenses and infrastructure needs for new or expanded facilities. If the assessment reveals substantial cost shifts to other customers, the PUC must identify potential mitigation strategies. This analysis, due by January 2027, will be submitted to legislative committees and posted publicly, with these provisions sunsetting in 2031.