Graded Moderate and tightening. 19 laws, orders, rulings and local actions, each with its source, reviewed 4 November 2026.
AEP Ohio Schedule DCT (July 2025) demands collateral of half of minimum charges before service; HB 15 (August 2025) permits but does not require own power.
PUCO's AEP Ohio DCT class (July 2025) sets an 85 percent minimum over 12 years with exit fees, and the August 5, 2026 notice rule assigns default costs.
At least 138 local moratoria as of September 17, 2026, upheld by the Ohio Supreme Court on October 20, 2026, cover most main markets including central Ohio.
Gov. DeWine paused new sales tax exemption offers on May 27, 2026 with no end date; existing agreements keep their breaks.
No water, air or disclosure rule is in force; HB 784 water reporting and HB 695 NDA limits are pending.
Scored on rules in force, 1 to 5. 5 is the most regulated. Pending rules set the arrow.
Ohio has turned against new data centers faster at the local and executive level than in statute. Gov. DeWine paused new offers of the sales tax exemption on 27 May 2026 after its cost reached about $1.6 billion in 2025, and at least 138 municipalities and townships had moratoria in force by mid-September 2026. On 20 October 2026 the Ohio Supreme Court ruled 7-0 in Bristolville 25 Developer v. Village of Lordstown that a village owes no site plan review while its moratorium is in effect, the first high-court backing for the local pauses against developer challenges. A Senate package (Substitute HB 646) that would halve new tax breaks and require a data center tariff at every utility was informally passed by the Senate in June 2026 but has had no final vote. The AEP Ohio data center tariff (25 MW and above, 85 percent minimum, 12 years) remains the only approved tariff and is under appeal at the Ohio Supreme Court.
Democrat Amy Acton defeated Vivek Ramaswamy on 3 November 2026 (about 51 to 46 percent in unofficial returns) and is to be inaugurated on 11 January 2027 having proposed a conditional moratorium under which new data centers must meet standards on energy costs, transparency, siting and environmental impact and pay for their own gas, water and power; she will also decide whether Gov. DeWine's May 2026 pause on new sales tax exemption awards continues and will appoint PUCO commissioners as terms end. Republicans keep both chambers but lost the 60-seat House supermajority on early returns while keeping it in the Senate, so a veto can no longer be overridden without Democratic votes, and Substitute HB 646 and the other pending bills die when this General Assembly ends in December 2026 unless passed in the post-election session that Republican leaders are expected to use for last-minute bills. Voters passed 16 of the 19 local measures with results, including bans above 25 MW or outright in 11 cities and villages, with Monroe and Sprigg townships still unreported and certification expected about three weeks after the election; Trenton's ban blocks the annexation for a 1,000 MW Amazon campus. PUCO has directed FirstEnergy to propose a data center tariff and staff recommended one for AES Ohio, the manufacturers' appeal of the AEP Ohio tariff still awaits a ruling, and Cincinnati expects draft zoning rules in November 2026 ahead of its interim control's expiry on 11 February 2027. Backers of a constitutional ban on data centers above 25 MW are aiming for the November 2027 ballot.
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 1 local pause is in force as of 4 November 2026, in Statewide (138 municipalities and townships). Proposals and expired pauses are not counted.
Tightening. Ohio is graded Moderate, which means incentives alongside new costs, limits or local pushback. New tax breaks paused; 138 local moratoria; state bill stalled. The outlook above says what is pending.
Ohio 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.
Yes. Ohio has paused, narrowed or ended a data center incentive in 2025 or 2026: Perry requires financial guarantees from hyperscale developers (Issue 16); Sales tax exemption repeal vetoed; override abandoned; Governor pauses new sales tax exemption awards.
On Genloop's five-line rubric (1 least regulated, 5 most) Ohio scores grid connection 3, power rates 4, siting and land use 4, tax treatment 4, permits and water 1, a mean of 3.2. The most regulated line is tax treatment: Gov. DeWine paused new sales tax exemption offers on May 27, 2026 with no end date; existing agreements keep their breaks.
Amy Acton (D) won the governor's race, flipping the office. Acton proposed on 27 July 2026 a "conditional moratorium" under which new data centers must meet standards on energy costs, union labor, transparency, environmental impact and siting, pay for their own gas, water and electricity and show they will not raise electricity costs, saying "If you do not meet these conditions, we do not want you in Ohio." Legislature: Republican both chambers; House supermajority lost, Senate supermajority kept, control changed. Binding measures passed: Issue 3 (photo ID for voting) (state). The arrow is tightening: Governor-elect ran on a conditional moratorium, Republicans lost the House supermajority, and voters passed 16 of 19 reported local limits.
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 voters in ten Ohio municipalities besides Trenton approved charter amendments or initiatives barring data centers: above 25 MW in Conneaut (Issue 10, 65 percent), Defiance (65 percent), Oregon (Issue 25, 60 percent), Pataskala (74 percent, effective immediately) and Sunbury (79 percent), and all data centers in Granville (82 percent), Hubbard (77 percent), Piqua (67 percent), Upper Sandusky (77 percent) and Urbana (77 percent). Results are unofficial; the Secretary of State expects certification about three weeks after the election.
Source: statecapitallobbyist.comOn 3 November 2026 Grove City voters approved the Community Consent Amendment 11,317 to 9,411 (55 percent, unofficial). It requires voter approval before the city approves developments over 50 contiguous acres, 20 MW of power or 500,000 gallons of water a day.
Source: unite.aiOn 3 November 2026 Perry voters approved Issue 16 with about 87 percent (unofficial), requiring financial guarantees from hyperscale data center developers that seek special tax incentives from the village.
Source: statecapitallobbyist.comOn 3 November 2026 Wilmington voters rejected, by about 80 percent each, four referendums that would have upheld council rezonings of rural residential sites (65, 191, 119 and 170 acres on SR 730, McGuinn Road and US 68 South) to light industrial for a data center, so the land keeps its residential zoning. Results are unofficial.
Source: statecapitallobbyist.comOn 3 November 2026 Trenton voters approved Issue 17 with about 80 percent (3,541 to 903, unofficial), a charter amendment barring data centers above 25 MW. The measure reached the ballot after the Ohio Supreme Court ruled on 1 September 2026 (2026-Ohio-3406) that only 128 valid signatures were needed. It blocks the 600-acre annexation for a proposed 1,000 MW Amazon campus and puts a 250 MW Prologis data center under construction in question; certified results are expected about three weeks after the election.
Source: wvxu.orgOf 21 Ohio data center measures on the 3 November 2026 ballot, 19 had unofficial results by midday 4 November: bans passed in Conneaut, Defiance, Granville, Hubbard, Oregon, Pataskala, Piqua, Sunbury, Trenton, Upper Sandusky and Urbana (60 to 82 percent yes), Grove City adopted a voter approval requirement and Perry a financial guarantee requirement, Wilmington voters overturned four data center rezonings and Ashville voters rejected the village's EdgeConneX term summary (about 80 percent against each), and Monroeville's advisory question on allowing data centers failed 87 to 13. Monroe and Sprigg township zoning initiatives were not yet reported.
Source: statecapitallobbyist.comOn 20 October 2026 the court ruled 7-0 in Bristolville 25 Developer v. Village of Lordstown (2026-Ohio-4073) that the village owes no site plan review while its data center moratorium is in effect, and that filing plans before the moratorium did not vest a right to a zoning permit. The developer proposed four buildings on about 133 to 153 acres straddling the Trumbull-Mahoning line. The ruling gives Ohio's roughly 140 local moratoria their first high-court backing against developer challenges.
Source: enr.comAs of 17 September 2026, at least 138 Ohio municipalities and townships had active data center moratoria, 23 had effective bans and at least 23 more across seven counties were considering them (Ohio Capital Journal count). Siting Radar's tracker listed 149 in force or adopted as of 22 October 2026. Butler County has a six-month moratorium covering six of its 13 townships. Developers are suing Urbana, Lordstown and Commercial Point. Named expirations: Niles and Shalersville November 2026; Lordstown, Springfield and Sunbury January 2027; Urbana March 2027; Commercial Point November 2027; Lima March 2028. Ballot measures on permanent bans are listed in a separate item.
Source: tiffinohio.netOn 5 August 2026 PUCO (Case 26-113-EL-ATA) ordered that data center customers give AEP Ohio 180 days' notice before taking default standard service offer supply; AEP Ohio then buys that energy through stand-alone auctions or spot purchases and assigns the full cost to the data center so other default-service customers are not affected.
Source: content.govdelivery.comThe citizen petition needed about 413,000 valid signatures by 1 July 2026 and had about 76,600 in late June, so it will not be on the 2026 ballot. Organizers say they will keep collecting and aim for November 2027.
Source: tribtoday.comUnveiled 9 June 2026 as a rewrite of a House bill (passed 97-0 on 18 March) that only created a study commission. Would cut new sales tax exemptions from 100 to 50 percent (75 percent for brownfield sites that bring their own power), cap local property tax abatements, end eligibility for state megaproject incentives, require data centers drawing more than 250 MW from the grid to generate or procure their own electricity, require every electric distribution utility to file a data center tariff with a separate rate class, require closed-loop cooling, and require a surety bond deposited with the tax commissioner. The Senate informally passed the bill on 10 June, setting it aside without a recorded vote; talks with the House collapsed over the sales tax exemption and no further action was found through 23 October 2026, with lawmakers not due back until after the 3 November election.
Source: wtap.comThe 2025 state budget (HB 96) ended the data center sales tax exemption, but Gov. DeWine vetoed that provision. On 9 June 2026 House Speaker Matt Huffman said he lacked the 60 votes to override. Existing agreements, some running 40 years, cover 18 companies and at least $2.3 billion.
Source: signalohio.orgOn 27 May 2026 Gov. DeWine's office paused new offers of the sales and use tax exemption on data center construction materials and equipment while the legislature studies the industry. No end date was given. The exemption cost about $554 million in 2024 and nearly $1.6 billion in 2025; existing agreements are not affected.
Source: cleveland19.comThe PUCO chair told lawmakers on 27 May 2026 that the commission has directed FirstEnergy to propose a data center tariff and that staff recommended one in AES Ohio's rate case. PUCO is also reviewing transmission cost allocation with a possible separate data center class. AEP Ohio reported 5,642 MW signed under its tariff, against more than 30,000 MW of requests in 2024.
Source: search-prod.lis.state.oh.usInterim Development Control Overlay 89 was adopted 11 February 2026 for three months and extended nine months on 1 April 2026; it now runs to 11 February 2027 and temporarily regulates new or expanded data centers across more than 22,000 parcels in CC-A, CG-A, UM, DD, ML and MG districts while permanent zoning text is written. The city expects to release draft regulations in November 2026.
Source: cincinnati-oh.govThe Ohio Manufacturers' Association Energy Group appealed the tariff as discriminatory. Briefing was due 24 March 2026 and no ruling had been reported as of the sources checked. Other pending 2026 bills tracked by the same source include SB 374 (limit exemptions from October 2027), SB 381 (PUCO approval before connection), HB 784 (water reporting) and HB 695 (NDAs).
Source: farmoffice.osu.eduIntroduced in February 2026 by Reps. David Thomas and Tristan Rader. Would require large data centers to sign long-term service agreements with minimum billing demand, exit fees or liquidated damages, and collateral or guarantees before construction, and bar utilities from shifting data center costs to other customers, mirroring the PUCO-approved AEP Ohio tariff. Not passed.
Source: wysu.orgApproved by PUCO in July 2025 for new data center loads of 25 MW or more. Customers pay for at least 85 percent of contracted capacity under a 12-year term, with an exit fee of 36 months of minimum charges and collateral equal to half of total minimum charges. PUCO rejected a rehearing bid by Amazon, Google and others in September 2025. The order ended AEP Ohio's pause on new data center agreements in central Ohio.
Source: datacenterdynamics.comPassed 30 April 2025 and effective August 2025. Lets large customers take power from generation on property they own or control, built and run by third parties, without using utility wires, and creates a mercantile customer self-power system category for customers above 700,000 kWh a year; bars utilities from providing behind-the-meter generation; ends electric security plans in favor of rate cases every three years.
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