What actually protects Kentucky ratepayers.

What it does

• Directs state energy and utility regulators, including the Kentucky Public Service Commission, to scrutinize data center load requests for ratepayer and environmental impact.
• Establishes an expectation that a data center demonstrates no detrimental impact on ratepayers before it is served.
• Requires that data centers pay their fair share of the local and state costs their development creates.
• Reinforces local governments as decision-makers on siting, rather than shifting those decisions to Frankfort.
• The Governor's public framing has been explicit: a project that cannot cover 100% of its own energy costs, including new generation, is not welcome in the Commonwealth.

What it does not do

• An executive order binds the executive branch. It is not a statute, and Republican legislative leaders have publicly questioned how much enforcement power it carries.
• Rate design and cost allocation remain the Public Service Commission's statutory authority. The order directs attention; the PSC still decides individual cases on the record.
• Legislators have signaled they intend to revisit data center legislation in the 2027 General Assembly session, which could supersede or codify parts of the order.
• Read the operative text before relying on specific language. News coverage and summaries paraphrase; the official order register is the authority.

What it does

• Applies to eligible data center load of 15 MW or more, with a load factor test; qualifying customers must take service under this tariff rather than an ordinary large-commercial rate.
• Application fee of $75,000 minimum, rising $1,000 per MW above 15 MW to a $250,000 cap — non-refundable, with the applicant responsible for load study costs beyond the fee.
• The applicant must demonstrate site control over the land before EKPC will study the request.
• A Load Study is submitted to PJM to determine interconnection and transmission upgrade costs; those costs are assigned to the requesting customer.
• Every special contract using Rate DCP must be filed with the Kentucky Public Service Commission for review and approval — the deal is public, not private.
• Collateral and security requirements sized to the obligation, with capital credits held until the contract ends and available to EKPC on default.
• A Dedicated Resource Rider governs generation built to serve the load: the customer funds it, funds additional generation if environmental or PJM rule changes cut its output, and funds a sinking fund for decommissioning.
• Customer-supplied dedicated resources must interconnect to the PJM transmission system and may not be interconnected behind the meter of the data center.
• Nameplate capacity of any dedicated resource must be sufficient to serve the data center's contractual load plus PJM reserve obligations without detriment to EKPC's non-data-center members.

What it does not do

• Rate DCP governs EKPC's territory and its owner-member distribution cooperatives. It does not apply to LG&E/KU, Kentucky Power, TVA-served areas or municipal utilities — each has its own structure.
• The tariff allows EKPC to deviate from its terms for good cause with Commission approval, so an individual contract can differ from the standard sheet. Read the approved contract, not just the tariff.
• EKPC retains sole discretion over several determinations, including when an application is complete and whether a dedicated resource is adequate.

What it does

• Signatories commit to the 'build, bring, or buy' standard: new load arrives with new supply attached.
• Signatories commit to covering the full infrastructure cost of serving their facilities.
• The White House reports more than 300 organizations have signed the pledge.
• Published in the Federal Register, Vol. 91, No. 45, pp. 11439–11440 (March 9, 2026).

What it does not do

• A pledge is a commitment, not a tariff. It carries no independent enforcement mechanism, and the proclamation does not specify penalties for signatories that fall short.
• Retail rates in Kentucky are set by the Kentucky Public Service Commission, not by federal proclamation. A signature on the pledge changes nothing in a Kentucky rate case unless it appears in an approved tariff or contract.
• For Kentucky residents, the operative question remains local: what did the utility file, and what did the Commission approve?

What it does

• Issued to all six FERC-jurisdictional RTOs and ISOs, including PJM, which covers most of eastern and central Kentucky's transmission.
• Two stated objectives held together: speed-to-power for large loads, and protection of existing ratepayers from absorbing the cost of serving them.
• Addresses co-located generation — the arrangement at the center of the 'bring your own power' trend.
• Follows an October 2025 Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking from the Secretary of Energy on related large-load reforms.

What it does not do

• These are open proceedings. Nothing is final until compliance filings are made and FERC acts on them.
• FERC governs wholesale and transmission matters. Retail rate design for Kentucky customers stays with the Kentucky Public Service Commission.

What it does

• Certificates granted for two 645 MW natural gas-fired generating units.
• The proposed special 'Mill Creek' tariff was barred.
• Construction conditioned on the underlying large-load need materializing rather than being assumed.
• The Attorney General's Office of Rate Intervention participated and filed a post-hearing brief on behalf of residential customers.

What it does not do

• Approval of generation is not the same as a decision about who ultimately pays for it; cost recovery is settled in subsequent rate proceedings.
• Terms differ from EKPC's Rate DCP. Which protections apply to a given project depends entirely on which utility serves the site.

What it does

• Exempts data center equipment purchased for a qualified data center project from sales and use tax, per KRS 139.499.
• Requires preliminary and final approval plus a memorandum of agreement with the Cabinet for Economic Development under KRS 154.20-220 to 154.20-229.
• Requires a certificate of exemption issued by the Department of Revenue.
• The exemption can be revoked and recovered if the company fails to meet its minimum capital investment commitment within five years of the memorandum of agreement.
• Since September 1, 2025, approved companies must report annually — project name, county, itemized equipment purchases and tax exempted — with third-party verification.
• The Department of Revenue must report that data to the Interim Joint Committee on Appropriations and Revenue by November 1 each year, and the reported data is expressly not confidential.

What it does not do

• A sales tax exemption reduces state revenue on equipment; it does not affect local property tax, which is where most direct local benefit from a data center originates.
• The exemption applies to approved projects, so the existence of an announced project does not by itself mean the exemption is in place.