There is a fundamental challenge at the heart of the power utility social contract: to provide power to all while ensuring that no group of ratepayers is unfairly burdened with costs. This challenge is particularly acute today, as new large load consumers, such as data centers, can change the shape of a grid (and its rates) in just a matter of months. 

One way to address this challenge is to design specific large load tariffs that cater to the needs of a utility service territory, and sometimes even to specific new large load assets. The think tank RMI has just published a review of 65 state-level large load tariffs, using Halcyon data. RMI identifies five essential protections for ratepayers across the 65 tariffs tracked by Halcyon. We’re pleased to share a few highlights here. 

First: check out the changing scale of new large load tariffs, which have doubled in size over the past two years, from 33 megawatts to 64 megawatts (and not just doubled in size, but considerably widened in distribution).

Second, tariff contract lengths have doubled as well, from five years before 2024, to almost 11 years in the past two years. Again, it’s not just the average, but the range that is opening up, with some new tariffs of 20 years’ duration.

Another protective measure is the minimum monthly billing demand. Demand minima require large electricity consumers to pay a certain amount per month, even if their consumption would otherwise merit a lower effective payment. We like this graphic for showing just how those monthly minima are constructed.

There’s a lot more in RMI’s analysis, which is a quick read. You can find it here.

And for more on Halcyon’s Large Load Tracker, check out our product page here.

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