Data centers can require enormous amounts of electricity. Somebody pays for the infrastructure needed to serve them. The question is who.
SB270 directed the Public Service Commission to review certain utility contracts with large-load customers. Every senator voted for it.
Reviewing a contract is not the same as protecting the person who pays the bill. The question I'm asking goes one step further: before a deal is approved, can Alabama families see that they aren't being asked to subsidize it?
Senate concurrence — “Motion to Concur In and Adopt House Amendment” · roll call 1679022 · 33–0 · verify
The pledge
I will support legislation requiring that, before the Public Service Commission approves a covered large-load agreement, each of the following is established publicly and on the record.
Sign this pledge
Any 2026 Alabama candidate, either party. Verified before publication.
Projected water withdrawal and consumption disclosed, with a finding that it will not impair local supply.
Projected electrical load disclosed, along with the grid upgrades required to serve it.
Interconnection and upgrade costs assigned to the customer requiring them, rather than spread across households.
Special-rate contract terms made public before approval — not redacted, and not disclosed afterward.
A public hearing in the affected county, and the right for residents who live there to participate in the proceeding.
No elected or appointed official should be asked to sign an NDA in order to learn what is being built in their own community, and negotiations that commit public infrastructure or public money should happen in open meeting.
Alabama already has an Open Meetings Act. This asks that it not be worked around by moving the substance of a public decision into a private room under a private contract.
Alabama has the third-highest average monthly residential electricity bills in the country. And the statewide average understates it for most of us.
TVA serves north Alabama at markedly lower rates, which pulls the state average down. Alabama Power — which serves most of the state — reports the highest total residential bills of any utility examined, running about 46% above Huntsville Utilities, a TVA distributor with nearly 200,000 residential customers. Rates in every neighboring state are 15 to 25 percent lower than Alabama Power's.
So new industrial load is not being added to an average system. It is being added to the one where households already pay the most.
Utility comparison reporting: Inside Climate News · state ranking from EIA residential bill data.
This isn't a pledge against data centers. It's a pledge against making Alabama families pay for them.
Every condition above is a disclosure, a hearing, or an open meeting. None of them says no to a project. A company that can say how much water and power it needs, can pay for what it uses, and is willing to say so in public, meets all six.
| Name | Office sought | Date | Verified by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spencer Stone | Alabama Senate, District 16 | 2026-09-01 | candidate is the author of this pledge |
Listed only where a campaign gave an explicit answer. A name appears here because someone said no — never because they were slow.
| Name | Office | Date asked | Response |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nothing to report yet. | |||
Contacted, given a stated deadline, and no answer received. This is not a refusal and is not presented as one.
| Name | Office | Date asked | Deadline given |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nothing to report yet. | |||
Any 2026 candidate for Alabama office may sign, regardless of party. If you agree with the commitment, I want your name here.
Send your name, the office you are seeking, and a line confirming the commitment above. Signatures are verified before publication.
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