This month I’d like to talk to you about Data Centers. I received a letter from a constituent here in town with suggestions for how we could insulate ourselves from the significant impacts of large electric-use data centers. It just so happens I was prime sponsor on a bill on data centers that I had just presented in committee a week before I received her note.
Here is an excerpt from her email, noting her concerns:
Dear Representative Kat McGhee,
As your constituent, I ask you take-action on data centers…
– Require data centers to pay for their additional electricity costs. State public service commissions should require data centers and other large electricity customers to pay their fair share of any increased costs in electricity generation, transmission, grid upgrades, and operations to ensure these costs don’t fall to other customers.
– Require utilities to conduct long-term planning for data center load growth. The electricity demand growth from data centers is unlike anything we’ve seen in decades, and utilities’ future energy plans need to be prepared for it.
– Require electricity generation for data centers to be additional and carbon-free. Policies such as bring your own new clean energy can help ensure data centers pay for their own generation, and aren’t burdening nearby communities with pollution from fossil fuel generation.
– Increase transparency and accountability. Development of data centers should be negotiated in public, not behind closed doors, and air and water pollution tracking should be built in. Other data center resource use should also be tracked and publicly reported, with adequate notice to allow the public to make informed choices about their communities….
My response included an explanation of my bill. HB1722 creates a regulatory framework for large-energy-use retail electricity facilities, directs the public utilities commission to develop a separate classification for such customers, set cost-based tariffs, and regulate long-term contracts to prevent adverse cost impacts on other ratepayers.
HB1722 addressed her concerns including her mention of requiring carbon-free sources of energy which could include nuclear power, but the Republican majority on my committee did not agree there was any need for Data Center regulation.
I brought this bill out of concern for high electric bills so that our Public Utilities Commission might be able to get a jump on figuring out the complexities of managing a sharp rise in electricity demand that could dramatically increase electricity rates for everyone else. It is true that high electric costs in New England are less hospitable to large data centers than mid- and south-western states, but I wanted to take a practical step to protect consumers from potential shifted costs onto their electric bills.
From saying I was creating a straw man that doesn’t exist, to suggesting I was trying to discourage data center businesses, we never seemed to get to the point that the main reason for my bill was the evidence of rate increases that has accompanied new large-use data centers’ electricity demand in other states. I truly believe that our job is to look out for people—before something goes wrong. The bill was voted Inexpedient to Legislate on party lines (10-8); so nothing will happen for another year.
Below is a link to my presentation of HB1722 in committee on February 9, 2026.
As always, feel free to reach out with any questions.
I look forward to seeing you on Town Voting Day, Tuesday, March 10th 7 AM – 7 PM at the Lawrence Barn, and Town Meeting on Saturday, March14th at 9:00, HBHS Gymnasium.
Rep. Kat McGhee, State Representative, District 35, Hollis
Ranking member, House Science, Technology & Energy
Email: Kat.McGhee@gc.nh.gov
— — Hollis Brookline News Online
By Kat McGhee, State Representative District 35, M.Ed., PMP retired
February 26, 2026