Something remarkable just happened at the Vermont State House.
The Vermont legislature just passed H.727 — the bill to regulate any data centers proposed here — with an overwhelming, bipartisan supermajority: 26-3 in the Senate, and with just a smattering of “no’s” on a voice vote in the House. That kind of margin doesn’t happen by accident. It’s what happens when legislators hear loud and clear from constituents that Vermont’s environment, ratepayers, and climate commitments are worth protecting — even from one of the wealthiest industries in human history.
I want to be honest about where things stand. The Scott Administration has already signaled opposition to this bill — specifically because it requires data centers to fund work that would reduce climate pollution and lower Vermonters’ energy bills.
With the bill now heading to his desk, we can’t assume the governor will do the right thing. We need him to hear from you.
Here’s something else worth knowing. In the final days before the vote, Americans for Prosperity — the political organization funded by the Koch brothers’ network, which has spent decades fighting clean energy and consumer protections across the country — submitted a letter to Vermont legislators urging them to kill the bill.
They called the energy transformation payment a “punitive climate surcharge” and an “industry-specific tax.” They complained that requiring data centers to meet Vermont’s longstanding “general good of the State” regulatory standard — the same standard applied to every major utility project in Vermont for decades — creates too much uncertainty for investors.
Read that again: dark-money group Americans for Prosperity is objecting to data centers being held to the same regulatory standard Vermont applies to wind and solar.
Here’s what H.727 actually does — and why we fought so hard for it:
Ratepayer protection that goes above and beyond Vermont’s already strong standards. The contract between a data center and its electric utility must ensure that other ratepayers are insulated from all costs of data center deployment. Not reduced, not mitigated — insulated. We pushed hard for that language, and it’s in the law.
A real climate investment, directed to Vermont communities. Data centers must make annual payments — calculated on rates already in Vermont law, entirely manageable for companies building multi-billion dollar facilities — to fund weatherization, heat pumps, EV charging infrastructure, and more, prioritized for the communities where they operate. This is what the Scott Administration called a bridge too far. We call it basic fairness.
An end to the fossil fuel generator playbook. Combustion-based backup generation is restricted to genuine emergencies only. What happened in Memphis — where xAI ran dozens of gas generators at a single data center, producing the equivalent of 10% of Vermont’s entire state air pollution output — will not happen here.
On-site renewables and Virtual Power Plant participation. Data centers must maximize renewable generation on-site and participate in coordinated grid management. They help stabilize Vermont’s electric system, or they don’t get served by it.
Twenty-six senators voted yes. A strong majority of the House has followed. Now the governor needs to hear from constituents.
This bill is the result of months of work by VPIRG members, allied organizations, and legislators who listened to what Vermonters actually want: an economy that works for everyone, a climate that’s livable, and a guarantee that regular ratepayers won’t be handed the bill for one of the richest industries on earth.
The average new U.S. data center is projected to nearly double in size by 2028. Some individual facilities being planned today would consume more electricity than all of Vermont combined. Vermont just acted. Now let’s make sure it sticks. The governor’s office can be reached at (802) 828-3333 or governor.vermont.gov/contact.