Contact: Vanessa Lynch, Pennsylvania Campaign Coordinator
vlynch@momscleanairforce.org, 757.277.3729
Harrisburg, PA — On Wednesday, May 13th, the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) adopted vitally important first step safeguards to protect Pennsylvania families and make data centers and other large loads pay their own way. Moms applaud the PUC’s plan ahead approach that demands data centers pay upfront for electricity upgrades that would not have been built if the data center, or large load, did not exist. The PUC also ordered large loads to pay into Universal Service Programs that help families keep their electricity on.
While the PUC’s order was a good first step, there’s much more work to be done. Centering clean, health protective energy and energy storage increases energy reliability, the ability for families to know their electricity is dependable, and decreases costs.
“The need to protect families already overburdened with significant household costs, causing serious mental stress to parents and forcing families to make unconscionable decisions like whether to pay to keep their heat on or to fill a prescription, is paramount,” says Vanessa Lynch, Pennsylvania Campaign Coordinator for Moms Clean Air Force. “Prioritizing Universal Service Programs that ensure all families have access to the power they need and making data centers pay their own way is a good first step in this endeavor. But, clean energy and energy storage are the only way to truly protect the health and decrease the energy costs for Pennsylvania families in the long term, and on this, the PUC failed to act.”
Additionally, the PUC failed to act on what happens when the demand for power is too high. Creating the most efficient power generation system possible would ensure the least need for large power users, like data centers, to decrease or curtail their power demands. That efficiency is vital because data center grid power needs are often replaced with dirty onsite diesel generators causing serious health risks for fenceline communities.
Every child deserves to breathe clean air and that requires a more efficient electricity system powered by clean energy and energy storage. The real power of these data center and large load safeguards will be in the PUC’s robust use of its authority and enforcement capabilities to protect us.
“Never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today.”- Ben Franklin