South Dakota2026Active

HB1038

Fees for Large Data Centers Using Public Utilities

Last scannedAug 25, 2026, 3:29 AM

In one sentence

This law allows the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission to charge data centers with high power needs a fee equal to the actual cost of reviewing their special electricity contracts.

Allows the commission to collect fees from public utility customers that are data centers with peak power needs of ten megawatts or more.
Sets the fee amount equal to the actual costs for processing requests for approval of electric service agreements with deviations.
Requires all money collected under this rule to be sent to the state treasurer.
Directs the funds into the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission gross receipts tax fund.

Data centers that use public utilities and have a peak electricity demand of ten megawatts or greater.
The South Dakota Public Utilities Commission, which collects the fees.
Public utility companies serving these large data center customers.

This law only applies to data centers with peak power needs of ten megawatts or more.
The text does not state the exact dollar amounts for these fees because they depend on actual processing costs.
An effective date is listed as blank in the provided source material.

Plain language

Data Center: A centralized place used to store, manage, share, and process electronic information or mine digital currency.
Peak Demand: The highest amount of electricity a customer uses at one time, measured in megawatts.

Official record

Source attached

allow the Public Utilities Commission to assess actual costs to data centers that are customers of public utilities.

Official activity