Graded Substantial and tightening. 19 laws, orders, rulings and local actions, each with its source, reviewed 4 November 2026.
SB 484 (1 July 2026) bars tariffs that block curtailment, and FPL's Nov 2025 terms make 50 MW loads fund a study, a substation and 100% of new generation.
SB 484, in force 1 July 2026, is a statewide full cost-of-service law for 50 MW loads; FPL's compliant tariff adds 20-year terms, minimum bills and exit fees.
Pauses in Palm Beach, Sarasota, Nassau, Manatee, Marion and Pasco and Volusia's 50 MW bar (20 Oct 2026) reach the Tampa and Orlando markets; Miami-Dade open.
HB 7031, effective 1 Aug 2025, narrowed the sales tax exemption to facilities of 100 MW or more with no grandfathering; it runs to June 2037.
SB 484's water rules (2026) deny permits that harm water resources, require reclaimed water and force a hearing above 100,000 gallons a day.
Scored on rules in force, 1 to 5. 5 is the most regulated. Pending rules set the arrow.
Florida enacted SB 484 in May 2026. It requires the Public Service Commission to make customers of 50 MW or more bear their full cost of service, protects local zoning authority, cuts data center projects out of the 12-month confidentiality extension for economic development records and tightens water permitting. The four investor-owned utilities filed tariffs or compliance statements by 1 October 2026; FPL says its 20-year large-load tariff approved in November 2025 already complies, and PSC staff have recommended that Duke Energy Florida's tariff, the first filed under the act, be denied as filed and refiled. The sales tax exemption survives through June 2037 but since August 2025 only for facilities of 100 MW or more. More than a dozen counties have adopted moratoria or bans, including 12-month pauses in Nassau, Sarasota, Palm Beach, Manatee, Marion and Pasco and a Volusia County bar on applications of 50 MW or more.
Republican Byron Donalds, projected the winner by the Associated Press on 3 November 2026, succeeds Ron DeSantis in January 2027 with former state senator Bryan Avila, the SB 484 sponsor, as lieutenant governor; Donalds opposes a statewide moratorium, says local governments decide whether data centers are built, and will receive the state study of data center impacts due 1 July 2027. Republicans keep both chambers for the session starting in March 2027 but unofficial results show they lost the House supermajority and may lose the Senate's, which matters mainly for tax and procedural votes rather than for data center bills, which passed SB 484 with wide bipartisan margins. The Public Service Commission voted 5-0 on 3 November 2026 to reject Duke Energy Florida's large-load tariff (Docket 20260064-EI) as not shown to comply with SB 484, and Duke is expected to refile; Tampa Electric's tariff, filed 30 September 2026, expects a decision in late 2026 or early 2027, and FPL's 1 October compliance statement is still to be reviewed. Edgewater voters wrote a ban on new data centers into the city charter on 3 November. County pauses cover Palm Beach, Sarasota, Nassau, Manatee, Marion and Pasco, Volusia has barred applications of 50 MW or more in unincorporated areas since 20 October 2026 and the city of Alachua adopted a one-year pause in late October; Pasco's pause runs to May 2027 and Marion's to September 2027. The Southwest Florida Water Management District must still approve the water supply for the Fort Meade campus.
Results as called on 4 November 2026. Positions are the winners' own statements; a platform is not a rule and does not change the grade.
No statewide moratorium, but 8 local pauses are in force as of 4 November 2026, in City of Alachua, Manatee County, Marion County, Nassau County, Palm Beach County, Pasco County and elsewhere. Proposals and expired pauses are not counted.
Tightening. Florida is graded Substantial, which means binding new costs, siting limits or disclosure rules on new data centers. 2026 law makes 50 MW loads pay full cost; counties pause. The outlook above says what is pending.
Florida sits in Southeast utilities. 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.
Yes. Florida has paused, narrowed or ended a data center incentive in 2025 or 2026: HB 7031: sales tax exemption limited to 100 MW and above.
On Genloop's five-line rubric (1 least regulated, 5 most) Florida scores grid connection 3, power rates 5, siting and land use 4, tax treatment 3, permits and water 4, a mean of 3.8. The most regulated line is power rates: SB 484, in force 1 July 2026, is a statewide full cost-of-service law for 50 MW loads; FPL's compliant tariff adds 20-year terms, minimum bills and exit fees.
Byron Donalds (R) won the governor's race. Donalds opposes a statewide data center moratorium, says the state study is already underway, and says of SB 484 that "it is now state law in Florida that if local governments say no data center, then no data centers" and that he will ensure utility bills do not rise for customers of rural cooperatives. Legislature: Republican both chambers, control changed. Binding measures passed: Edgewater charter amendment prohibiting new data centers (Edgewater (Volusia County)). The arrow is tightening: SB 484 implementation continues under a governor who backs local control; the PSC rejected Duke's first tariff on 3 November and county pauses keep spreading.
19 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.
On 3 November 2026 Edgewater voters approved a charter amendment that prohibits new data centers from being approved, built, expanded or operated in the city, making permanent a ban the City Council adopted earlier in 2026. Early unofficial results showed at least 77 percent in favor.
Source: forbes.comFPL's Large Load Contract Service terms, approved in November 2025 as part of its 2026 to 2029 rate plan, require applicants to fund an engineering study, pay 100 percent of new generation built for them, build their own substation, meet a minimum bill on reserved capacity, sign a 20-year minimum contract and pay an exit fee. The PSC still has to review the compliance filing.
Source: wusf.orgCommissioners voted unanimously on 28 July 2026 to have staff draft a moratorium on data centers and other large-load projects. On 8 October 2026 the board adopted a one-year moratorium that pauses the acceptance, processing and approval of new data center projects while the county studies effects on energy, water, infrastructure and communities and writes rules. Commissioners said no data center projects were planned in the county at the time.
Source: mysuncoast.comThe county council voted 6-0 on 20 October 2026 for an ordinance under which the county will not accept, process, review or approve applications for data centers with an anticipated monthly peak load of 50 MW or more in unincorporated areas. Projects under 50 MW may still apply but go through staff review, a zoning and regulation committee and a council vote. Cities inside the county set their own rules.
Source: mynews13.comCity commissioners approved a one-year moratorium 5-0 on second reading in late October 2026, after a 4-1 first reading earlier in the month. It pauses applications and non-disclosure agreements involving data centers within the city.
Source: wcjb.comTampa Electric filed its large-load tariff with the PSC on 30 September 2026 under SB 484. Large-load customers would pay for all electric system upgrades needed to serve them and contribute to the cost of maintaining the broader system. The utility says it serves no large-load customer today and expects a PSC decision in late 2026 or early 2027.
Source: baynews9.comEach investor-owned utility (FPL, Duke Energy Florida, Tampa Electric and Florida Public Utilities) had to file a tariff complying with s. 366.043 for PSC approval by 1 October 2026. The PSC may approve tools such as minimum bills, exit fees and credit support but the act sets no rulemaking deadline. Municipal utilities and cooperatives such as JEA, OUC and Gainesville Regional Utilities are not covered.
Source: flsenate.govDuke filed on 22 April 2026 for customers with 50 MW or more of firm load at one site: a 20-year contract, take-or-pay minimums of 75 to 85 percent of contracted capacity, credit support, two years' notice to leave and an exit payment of three years of minimum bills plus the net book value of new facilities, with a dedicated rate schedule to take effect 1 January 2028. Hearings ran on 25 and 26 August 2026. On 22 October 2026 PSC staff recommended that the Commission deny the tariff as filed with leave to refile, saying the proposal does not yet ensure each large-load customer bears its full cost of service, with an alternative of interim approval widened to every customer meeting the 50 MW definition. The Commission votes on 3 November 2026; if denied, Duke would have 10 business days to refile.
Source: mgrid.orgCommissioners voted 6-0 on 24 September 2026 to stop accepting or approving zoning requests for data centers with peak load of 50 MW or more in unincorporated areas for up to a year. In July they rejected a large expansion of Project Tango, which keeps a smaller 2016 approval.
Source: cbs12.comThe Board of County Commissioners adopted an ordinance 5-0 on 15 September 2026 that freezes large commercial data centers expected to draw 50 MW or more at maximum demand in unincorporated Marion County for 12 months from the effective date, or sooner if new land development or comprehensive plan rules are adopted. Facilities under 50 MW may still be reviewed as special-use permits, and school and hospital IT facilities are exempt.
Source: 352today.comSarasota County adopted a 12-month pause on data centers in July 2026 to study impacts and write permanent rules.
Source: baynews9.comCommissioners passed a 12-month moratorium unanimously in July 2026 on building permits, rezonings and site plans for new data centers in unincorporated Pasco County, retroactive to 27 May 2026 when the hearing was first advertised. The exemption for small facilities was lowered to 2.5 MW from a proposed 10 MW, and a proposed 19.9 MW data center near I-75 and State Road 52 falls inside the pause.
Source: tampabaybeacons.comCommissioners approved a 12-month moratorium in June 2026 on accepting, reviewing or approving data center applications, including rezonings and site plans, while a committee studies impacts.
Source: news4jax.comSigned 7 May 2026 after votes of 31-6 and 92-16; most provisions took effect 1 July 2026. Customers with an anticipated monthly peak of 50 MW or more at one site must bear their full cost of service and may not split loads to avoid it. Tariffs may not block curtailment for grid stability, and utilities may not knowingly serve large loads controlled by foreign countries of concern.
Source: flsenate.govLocal governments keep comprehensive planning and land development authority over large-load customers, and a large load customer may not be treated as an electric substation under s. 163.3208; these provisions took effect on signing, 7 May 2026. The act also bars data center projects from the 12-month extension of confidentiality for economic development information under s. 288.075, so project details become public sooner.
Source: flsenate.govWater permits may not be issued if the use would harm water resources or conflict with local zoning. Reclaimed water must be used where available and feasible, and applications averaging 100,000 gallons a day or more need detailed source and conservation plans and a hearing.
Source: news4jax.comFort Meade's planning board approved Stonebridge's plan for 1.9 million square feet, expandable to 4.4 million, on 7 April 2026 despite a petition of about 500 residents. On 14 April 2026 the city commission voted unanimously for a 20-year development agreement covering the 1,300-acre site. Florida Commerce Secretary Alex Kelly wrote to the city on 17 April 2026 calling the proposal fundamentally flawed on water and energy grounds. The Southwest Florida Water Management District governing board must still approve the water supply for the project.
Source: baynews9.comThe county planning and zoning commission voted 4-2 in October 2025 to recommend against a plan amendment for a 1,218-acre campus near Fort Pierce planned for a first 1,000 MW. In February 2026 a county commissioner said the developer appeared to have pulled back ahead of the state data center law, though it had not formally withdrawn. No county commission vote has been reported.
Source: wflx.comPassed 30 June 2025 and effective 1 August 2025. The data center sales tax exemption now applies only to facilities with a critical IT load of 100 MW or more, up from 15 MW, with no grandfathering for smaller sites.
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