New Matt Chats Episode Addresses Data Centers in Delaware

Delaware Public Advocate Jameson Tweedie and Deputy Chief of Staff Nikko Brady make the case for a Large Load Fee

WILMINGTON - Yesterday, the Office of Governor Matt Meyer released the latest episode of Matt Chats, the governor's biweekly podcast highlighting the people and ideas moving Delaware forward.

In this latest episode, titled, "Data Centers & Delaware's Digital Future", Governor Meyer sits down with Delaware's Public Advocate Jameson Tweedie and Deputy Chief of Staff Nikko Brady for a discussion on data centers and how Delaware can protect ratepayers by imposing a Large Load Tariff.Watch the episode now on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Substack, or wherever you get your podcasts.

"Our job is simple: keep Delaware a place where families can afford to live and businesses can innovate," Governor Matt Meyer said. "If a new data center wants to plug into our grid, it should pay its fair share, not push costs onto everyone else. A Large Load fee helps us welcome innovation while protecting our neighbors, our grid, and our environment."

"Huge data centers offer significant economic investment but consume enormous amounts of power and require expensive upgrades to infrastructure, and may impact energy, capacity, or other costs. We need to ensure those costs are paid by the companies profiting from these new businesses." Public Advocate Jameson Tweedie said. "A Large Load Tariff will help to protect existing utility consumers by creating a separate rate structure for new, very large energy users so the costs to serve them are paid by those customers, not other Delawareans."

What Delaware's proposed Large Load Fee would do:

• Applies to new very large electricity users: New facilities that draw huge amounts of power, potentially 25 megawatts (MW) or higher, including projects that add up across multiple buildings, parcels, or phases.
• Stops cost-shifting to everyone else: Sets a clear expectation that large energy customers cover all the additional costs tied to their demand, rather than those costs showing up in residential and small business bills.
• Protects reliability during grid stress: Requires large load customers to reduce energy use during emergencies so the power stays on for households, hospitals, and small businesses.
• Makes large loads cover necessary grid upgrades: Ensures large-load customers pay the full cost of transmission and distribution upgrades needed to serve their added power demand.

For any questions or to schedule a one-on-one interview with Governor Meyer, please email [email protected].