Energy Affordability Act

2025-2026 Bill 5484: Energy Affordability Act - South Carolina Legislature Online

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026
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H. 5484
STATUS INFORMATION
General Bill
Sponsors: Rep. J.L. Johnson
Document Path: LC-0367HA26.docx
Introduced in the House on April 1, 2026
Currently residing in the House Committee on
Labor, Commerce and Industry
Summary: Energy Affordability Act
HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS

Date

Body

Action Description with journal page number

4/1/2026

House

Introduced and read first time (
House Journal-page 6
)

4/1/2026

House

Referred to Committee on
Labor, Commerce and Industry
(
House Journal-page 6
)

View the latest
legislative information
at the website
VERSIONS OF THIS BILL
04/01/2026

A bill

TO AMEND THE SOUTH
CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS BY ENACTING THE "ENERGY AFFORDABILITY ACT" BY AMENDING
SECTION
58-37-20
, RELATING TO THE PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION, SO AS TO PROVIDE
FOR DEMAND-SIDE PILOT PROGRAMS; BY AMENDING SECTION
58-37-120
, RELATING TO
APPLICATIONS FOR PERMIT, SO AS TO REQUIRE A PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD FOR ANY
APPLICATION FOR A PERMIT FOR AN ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECT, AND TO REQUIRE
NOTICE TO AFFECTED LANDOWNERS IF A PUBLIC UTILITY THAT PLANS TO CONSTRUCT, OR
HAS ENTERED INTO AGREEMENTS TO CONSTRUCT, AN ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECT THAT
MAY RESULT IN THE USE OF EMINENT DOMAIN AND TO PRESCRIBE THE METHODS AND
CONTENT OF THE NOTICE, AND TO REQUIRE THE OFFICE OF REGULATORY STAFF TO PROVIDE
THE PROPERTY OWNER A SUMMARY OF OWNER RIGHTS UNDER STATE EMINENT DOMAIN LAW IF
THE PROPERTY OWNER CONTACTS THE OFFICE OF REGULATORY STAFF AFTER RECEIVING
NOTICE; BY ADDING SECTION
58-27-835
SO AS TO PROVIDE FOR THE TERMS AND
CONDITIONS OF ELECTRIC SERVICE TO COMMERCIAL DATA CENTERS; BY ADDING SECTION
58-27-836
SO AS TO PROVIDE FOR REPORTS TO THE DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL
SERVICES CONCERNING SURFACE AND GROUND WATER USED BY COMMERCIAL DATA CENTERS;
BY ADDING SECTION
58-27-837
SO AS TO REQUIRE COMMERCIAL DATA CENTERS TO FILE
DECOMMISSIONING PLANS AND DECOMMISSIONING FINANCIAL ASSURANCE INSTRUMENTS WITH
THE DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES; BY AMENDING SECTION
12-36-2120
,
RELATING TO EXEMPTIONS FROM SALES TAX, SO AS TO PROVIDE THAT THE COMPUTER
EQUIPMENT EXEMPTION IS AVAILABLE TO A TAXPAYER THAT ENTERED INTO A FEE-IN-LIEU
AGREEMENT ON OR BEFORE MAY 30, 2026; TO PROVIDE THAT THE EXEMPTION FOR ELECTRICITY
USED BY A TECHNOLOGY INTENSIVE FACILITY IS NOT AVAILABLE TO A TAXPAYER THAT DID
NOT CLAIM THE CREDIT PRIOR TO MAY 30, 2026; TO PROVIDE THAT TO CLAIM THE
EXEMPTION FOR ORIGINAL OR REPLACEMENT COMPUTERS, COMPUTER EQUIPMENT, AND
COMPUTER HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE PURCHASES USED IN A DATACENTER, THE TAXPAYER
MUST HAVE NOTIFIED THE DEPARTMENTS OF REVENUE AND COMMERCE OF ITS INTENTION TO
CLAIM THE CREDIT ON OR BEFORE MAY 30, 2026; AND TO PROVIDE THAT THE EXEMPTION
FOR ORIGINAL OR REPLACEMENT COMPUTERS, COMPUTER EQUIPMENT, AND COMPUTER
HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE PURCHASES USED IN A DATACENTER THE TAXPAYER MUST HAVE
BEEN CERTIFIED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE PRIOR TO MAY 30, 2030; AND BY
AMENDING SECTION
58-27-840
, RELATING TO PROHIBITIONS ON PREFERENCES AND
UNREASONABLE RATES, SO AS TO REQUIRE ELECTRICAL UTILITIES TO OFFER DISCOUNTED
RATES TO LOW INCOME HOUSEHOLDS, SUBJECT TO THE COMMISSION'S APPROVAL.

B
e it enacted by the
General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

S
ECTION 1.
This act may be cited as the "Energy Affordability Act."

S
ECTION 2.
S
ection
58-37-20
(B) and (C) of the S.C. Code is
amended to read:

(
B) The commission
may
shall
approve any program
filed by a public utility if the program is found to be cost-effective.
Furthermore, the commission may, in its discretion, approve
demand-side pilot programs and
any program filed by a
public utility that is not cost-effective, so long as the proposed demand-side
management program is targeted to low-income customers
,
provided that

and
the public utility's
portfolio of demand-side management programs is cost-effective as a whole.

(
C)
The South Carolina Public Service Commission must adopt procedures that require
electrical utilities and public utilities providing gas services subject to the
jurisdiction of the commission to plan for and invest in all reasonable,
prudent, and available energy efficiency and demand-side resources that are
cost-effective energy efficient technologies and energy conservation programs
in an amount to be determined by the commission
that achieve net energy savings of at least 0.66 percent of
total retail sales as of May 15, 2027, or a higher level as determined by the
commission
.
Energy efficiency shall be considered a
component of the requirement for a utility to make every reasonable effort to
minimize fuel costs as outlined in Section
58-27-865
(F) and the commission may
grant a proportional disallowance based on evidence in the record.
If an
electrical utility fails to meet the requirements of this section as determined
by the commission,
then
the commission is
authorized to appoint a third-party administrator to carry out the
residential low-income
energy efficiency duties pursuant
to this section on behalf of the electrical utility if the commission
determines that having such a third-party administrator is in the public
interest and consistent with law.
Such a program shall be
funded through the existing energy efficiency rider mechanism with those funds
transferred to the third-party administrator.
Upon notice and hearings
that the commission may require, the commission may issue rules, regulations,
or orders pursuant to this chapter to implement applicable programs and
measures under this section. If adopted, these procedures must: provide
incentives and cost recovery for energy suppliers and distributors who invest
in energy supply and end-use technologies that are cost-effective,
environmentally acceptable, and reduce energy consumption or system or local
coincident peak demand; allow energy suppliers and distributors to recover
costs and obtain a reasonable rate of return on their investment in qualified
demand-side management programs sufficient to make these programs at least as
financially attractive as construction of new generating facilities; require
the Public Service Commission to establish rates and charges that ensure that
the net income of an electrical or gas utility regulated by the commission
after implementation of specific cost-effective energy conservation measures is
at least as high as the net income would have been if the energy conservation
measures had not been implemented.

S
ECTION 3.
S
ection
58-37-120
(A)(1) of the S.C. Code is amended to
read:

(
1) Any agency presented with an
application for a permit for an energy infrastructure project shall promptly
provide a public comment period
if required by regulation
and
shall review and issue a decision on the application no later than six months
after the date the application is received by the agency. If the agency fails
to undertake review of and take final action upon the application within the
six-month review period, as defined in subsection (A)(3),
then

the application shall be deemed approved, and the agency shall promptly
issue documentation of such approval.

S
ECTION 4.
S
ection
58-37-120
of the S.C. Code is amended by
adding:

(
E) No later than sixty days prior to
filing the first permit application with an agency, or as part of the first
communication from the permit applicant to a property owner, whichever is
earlier, any permit applicant that plans to construct, or has entered into
agreements to construct, an energy infrastructure project that may result in
the use of eminent domain must provide written notice, via certified United
States mail, to any property owners whose property may be acquired or
condemned. The notice must clearly state the need for the project, its
preferred and any alternative locations or routes, a phone number or email
address that property owners may use to contact the permit applicant, and an
appropriate contact at the Office of Regulatory Staff. No later than thirty
days after an application is filed, the permit applicant must hold a public
meeting to solicit feedback from interested members of the affected community.
As soon as practicable after an application is filed, the permit applicant must
provide public notice of the public meeting in a newspaper or other publication
of general circulation in each county where the project is proposed to be
located. Written notice must also be provided to all landowners whose property
may be affected and to local and state elected officials representing districts
where the energy infrastructure project is located.

(
F) If a property owner contacts the
office of Regulatory Staff pursuant to subsection (E), the Office of Regulatory
Staff shall provide the property owner with a summary of property owner rights
under state eminent domain law, including the right to seek legal counsel.

S
ECTION 5.
A
rticle 7, Chapter 27, Title 58 of the S.C. Code is
amended by adding:

S
ection
58-27-835
.
(
A) For the purposes of
this section:

(
1)
"Commercial data center" means a facility, campus of facilities, or array of
interconnected facilities in this State used by an entity or other business
enterprise to operate, manage, or maintain a computer, group of computers, or
other organized assembly of hardware and software for the primary purpose of
storing, retrieving, or transmitting data and that has a peak demand of fifty
megawatts or greater.

(
2)
"Electric service provider" means an electrical utility, consolidated political
subdivisions, electric cooperatives, and the Public Service Authority.

(
B)
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, an electric service provider shall
require additional terms and conditions of electric service including, without
limitation, rates, charges, minimum billing requirements, and longer terms of
contract, designed to ensure all costs associated with serving or preparing to
serve commercial data centers are recovered solely, or at least substantially,
from commercial data centers. These terms and conditions shall include at
least:

(
1)
a contract term of at least fifteen years;

(
2)
minimum billing requirements;

(
3)
a requirement that the commercial data center, upon termination of its contract
for electric service, pay any unrecovered costs incurred in serving or
preparing to serve the commercial data center including, but not limited to,
distribution, transmission, and generation costs associated with the provision
of electric service to the commercial data center;

(
4)
collateral from the commercial data center to be paid to the electric service
provider in the event the commercial data center terminates its contract prior
to the contract expiration date. The electric service provider must maintain
this collateral in a separate account. In the event the account earns any
interest, that interest amount must be applied toward the commercial data
center's outstanding costs, less any administrative fees the electric service
provider may have incurred due to the account; and

(
5)
a requirement that the commercial data center, upon termination of its contract
for electric service, pay any unrecovered costs incurred in serving or
preparing to serve the commercial data center to the electric service provider.
This must include, but not be limited to, distribution, transmission, and
generation costs associated with the provision of electric service to the
commercial data center.

(
C)
Any contract pursuant to this section must be approved by the Public Service
Commission. Before the commission approves a contract, it must determine that
the contract meets the requirements of this section and that costs associated
with increased fuel requirements, generation costs, and transmission costs
that:

(
1)
are substantially related to the provision of electric services to the
commercial data center; and

(
2)
would not have been incurred but for the electric demand of such commercial
data center, shall be recovered solely by the electric service provider from
the commercial data center.

(
D)
The provisions of this section shall not apply to a commercial data center that
is a customer of an electric service provider in this State as of May 15, 2026.

S
ection
58-27-836
.
(
A) A commercial data
center, as defined in Section
58-27-835
(A), must report to the Department of
Environmental Services by the end of each month the amount of surface water,
groundwater, and water provided by a public or private water utility that was
used within the prior month. When multiple sources of water are used by a
commercial data center in a month, the amount of water attributable to each
such source shall be separately listed and reported. The report must also
identify the source of the water, including groundwater, the body of water for
any surface water withdrawals, and the name of any public or private water
utility that provided water to the data center.

(
B) A
proposed commercial data center, as defined in Section
58-27-835
(A), must
report to the Department of Environmental Services within thirty days after
entering an agreement with a public or private water utility for the provision
of water to the commercial data center, the anticipated monthly and annual
water use for the facility and the source of water. Under no circumstances
shall the anticipated water use and source information be provided less than ninety
days before the commercial data center begins construction. The Department of
Environmental Services may assess a civil penalty against the owner of a
commercial data center of not more than ten thousand dollars for each day that
the information required by this subsection is not received.

(
C)
All penalties and fines collected pursuant to this section must be deposited in
the general fund of the State.

S
ection
58-27-837
.
(
A) A commercial data
center, as defined in Section
58-27-835
(A), must file a decommissioning plan
with the Department of Environmental Services. The decommissioning plan may be
a general framework, but it must include:

(
1)
general procedures for facility removal;

(
2)
estimated decommissioning costs; and

(
3)
the timeline required to decommission the facility.

(
B) A
proposed commercial data center, as defined in Section
58-27-835
(A), must also
file with the Department of Environmental Services financial instruments
providing financial assurances for decommissioning. The amount of financial
assurance required pursuant to this subsection shall be equal to the estimated
decommissioning costs without multipliers. Decommissioning financial assurance
may be phased in over the first five years of the data center's operation.
Decommissioning financial assurance required pursuant to this subsection shall
account for the salvage value of the equipment and materials utilized by the
data center. The Department of Environmental Services shall accept one or more,
or a combination, of the following as financial assurance instruments:

(
1)
letters of credit;

(
2)
surety bonds;

(
3)
escrow accounts; or

(
4)
other financial instruments acceptable to the Department of Environmental
Services that provide a cash-equivalent assurance.

S
ECTION 6.
S
ection
12-36-2120
(65)(a) of the S.C. Code is amended
to read:

(
a) computer equipment, as defined in
subitem (c) of this item, used in connection with a technology intensive
facility as defined in Section
12-6-3360
(M)(14)(b), where:

(
i)
the taxpayer invests at least three hundred million dollars in real or personal
property or both comprising or located at the facility over a five-year period;

(
ii)
the taxpayer creates at least one hundred new full-time jobs at the facility
during that five-year period, and the average cash compensation of at least one
hundred of the new full-time jobs is one hundred fifty percent of the per
capita income of the State according to the most recently published data
available at the time the facility's construction starts;

and

(
iii)
at least sixty percent of the three hundred million dollars minimum investment
consists of computer equipment;
and

(
iv) the taxpayer entered into a
fee-in-lieu agreement on or before May 30, 2026, and any subsequent renewal of
the agreement;

S
ECTION 7.
S
ection
12-36-2120
(66) of the S.C. Code is amended to
read:

(
66) electricity used by a
technology intensive facility as defined in Section
12-6-3360
(M)(14)(b) and
qualifying for the sales tax exemption provided pursuant to item (65) of this
section
on or before May 30, 2026
, and the
equipment and raw materials including, without limitation, fuel used by such
qualifying facility to generate, transform, transmit, distribute, or manage
electricity for use in such a facility. The running of the periods of
limitation within which the department may assess taxes pursuant to Section
12-54-85
is suspended during the same time period it is suspended in item
(65)(d) of this section;

S
ECTION 8.
S
ection
12-36-2120
(79)(C)(1) of the S.C. Code is
amended to read:

(
1) To qualify for the exemption
allowed by this item, a taxpayer, and the facility in the case of a
seventy-five million dollar investment made by more than one taxpayer, shall
, on or before May 26, 2026,
notify the Department of
Revenue and Department of Commerce, in writing, of its intention to claim the
exemption. For purposes of meeting the requirements of subitems (B)(5)(ii) and
(B)(5)(iii), capital investment and job creation begin accruing once the
taxpayer notifies each department. Also, the five-year period begins upon
notification.

S
ECTION 9.
S
ection
12-36-2120
(79)(G) of the S.C. Code is amended
to read:

(
G) This subitem only applies to a
datacenter that is certified by the Department of Commerce pursuant to subitem
(D)(1) prior to
January 1, 2032
May 30, 2030
. However, this item shall continue to apply
to a taxpayer that is certified by
December 31, 2031
May 29, 2030
, for an additional
ten
ten-
year period. Upon the end of the
ten
ten-
year period, this
subitem is repealed;

S
ECTION 10.
S
ection
58-27-840
(A) of the S.C. Code is amended to
read:

(
A) No electrical utility, or
consolidated political subdivision shall, as to rates or services, make or
grant any unreasonable preference or advantage to any person, corporation,
municipality or consolidated political subdivision to its unreasonable prejudice
or disadvantage. No electrical utility, or consolidated political subdivision
shall establish or maintain any unreasonable difference as to rates or service
as between localities or as between classes of service. Subject to the approval
of the Commission, however, electrical utilities, and consolidated political
subdivisions may establish classifications of rates and services and such
classifications may take into account the conditions and circumstances
surrounding the service, such as the time when used, the purpose for which
used, the demand upon plant facilities, the value of the service rendered and
any other reasonable consideration.
Subject to the
approval of the Commission, electrical utilities shall offer a percentage of income
payment plan or other discounted rates offered to low-income households; the
Commission, in its discretion, may require these rates be paired with energy
conservation measures designed to reduce electrical utility cost of service as described
in Section
58-27-845
(B).
The Commission may determine any question of
fact arising under this section. The Commission shall not fix any rates charged
by electric cooperatives or consolidated political subdivisions.

S
ECTION 11. If any section, subsection,
paragraph, subparagraph, sentence, clause, phrase, or word of this act is for
any reason held to be unconstitutional or invalid, such holding shall not
affect the constitutionality or validity of the remaining portions of this act,
the General Assembly hereby declaring that it would have passed this act, and
each and every section, subsection, paragraph, subparagraph, sentence, clause,
phrase, and word thereof, irrespective of the fact that any one or more other
sections, subsections, paragraphs, subparagraphs, sentences, clauses, phrases,
or words hereof may be declared to be unconstitutional, invalid, or otherwise
ineffective.

S
ECTION 12. This act takes effect upon
approval by the Governor.

----XX----

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