Graded Light and steady. 2 laws, orders, rulings and local actions, each with its source, reviewed 2 November 2026.
No connection, own-power or reliability rule specific to data centers exists in the District.
No Pepco large-load tariff or data center cost rule; B26-0596 (Feb 2026) is general ratemaking and still pending.
No moratorium, siting or zoning rule for data centers exists in the District.
The District offers no data center tax incentive and has taken no action on one, so nothing to lose and nothing to gain.
No water, air permit or disclosure rule for data centers exists in the District.
Scored on rules in force, 1 to 5. 5 is the most regulated. Pending rules set the arrow.
The District has no hyperscale campuses announced and is not a target market; regional data center growth sits in Northern Virginia and Maryland. Repeated searches turned up no District legislation, incentive, Pepco large-load tariff, moratorium or rule on self-supplied power that is specific to data centers. The District's exposure is on the bill side: Pepco customers pay PJM capacity costs driven by data center growth elsewhere in the region, a point Councilmember Charles Allen made at a March 2026 meeting of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments. The Council's response so far is general ratemaking and affordability legislation, not data center rules.
Nothing specific to data centers was found pending in the District as of 2 November 2026. B26-0596, the Council bill to tighten Pepco's multiyear rate plans, had public hearings on 29 June and 2 July 2026 and remains in committee with no vote recorded. The Court of Appeals ruled on 5 March 2026 that the commission approved Pepco's 2024 to 2026 rate plan without proper vetting, and the evidentiary hearing in Formal Case 1176 has been postponed to 7 and 8 December 2026. In the commission's energy affordability investigation, Formal Case 1186, the People's Counsel has asked that transmission upgrade costs be allocated to the large-load customers that cause them and that PJM require deposits or collateral for large-load projects; Formal Case 1183 covers the PJM capacity auction. The Council of Governments planned a further regional session on data center costs with no date set.
No. As of 2 November 2026 no statewide or local moratorium on data centers is in force in District of Columbia. Proposals and expired pauses are not counted.
Steady. District of Columbia is graded Light, which means incentives in place and few new obligations. No data-center rules or incentives; the District's issue is the power bill. The outlook above says what is pending.
District of Columbia sits in PJM. The grid operator decides how a new large load is studied, what it must bring or pay, and whether it can be curtailed first; the state decides siting, permits, tariffs and incentives.
No. District of Columbia's data center incentives were not pulled back in 2025 or 2026 as of 2 November 2026.
On Genloop's five-line rubric (1 least regulated, 5 most) District of Columbia scores grid connection 1, power rates 1, siting and land use 1, tax treatment 3, permits and water 1, a mean of 1.4. The most regulated line is tax treatment: The District offers no data center tax incentive and has taken no action on one, so nothing to lose and nothing to gain.
2 items: each is a law, order, tariff, ruling, utility action or local decision that changes what a data center must do, pay or disclose, or where it may be built. Failed and pending measures are marked. Each links to its source.
Introduced on 13 February 2026 by Councilmember Robert White, the bill would limit Pepco's multiyear rate plans, including by basing increases on historic costs instead of forecast budgets and by barring a utility from seeking a rate increase at the end of a multiyear plan. It was referred to the Committee on Transportation and the Environment on 3 March 2026, which held public hearings on 29 June and 2 July 2026; no committee vote had been recorded as of 2 November 2026. The Public Service Commission separately opened Formal Case 1186, an energy affordability investigation, on 16 January 2026 after a November 2025 petition from the Office of the People's Counsel. Neither sets terms for data centers; they respond to rising bills that analysts link in part to regional data center demand.
Source: 51st.newsThe Commission opened Formal Case 1186 by Order 22774 on 16 January 2026 after a petition from the Office of the People's Counsel, to examine ways to reduce rising energy costs; the chairman cited load growth, aging grid infrastructure and inflation. Initial comments were due 16 February 2026 and replies 2 March 2026. At a 3 June 2026 legislative-style hearing in the case, the People's Counsel asked that transmission upgrade costs be allocated to the large-load customers that cause them and that PJM require deposits or collateral before large-load projects drive forecasts and spending. The Commission also runs Formal Case 1183 on the impact of the PJM capacity auction.
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