Graded Substantial and tightening. 14 laws, orders, rulings and local actions, each with its source, reviewed 23 October 2026.
SB 484 (1 July 2026) bars tariffs that block curtailment, and FPL's Nov 2025 terms make 50 MW loads fund a study, a substation and 100% of new generation.
SB 484, in force 1 July 2026, is a statewide full cost-of-service law for 50 MW loads; FPL's compliant tariff adds 20-year terms, minimum bills and exit fees.
Palm Beach (24 Sept 2026), Sarasota and Nassau county pauses and a dozen more county restrictions reach a main market; Miami-Dade, Tampa and Orlando stay open.
HB 7031, effective 1 Aug 2025, narrowed the sales tax exemption to facilities of 100 MW or more with no grandfathering; it runs to June 2037.
SB 484's water rules (2026) deny permits that harm water resources, require reclaimed water and force a hearing above 100,000 gallons a day.
Scored on rules in force, 1 to 5. 5 is the most regulated. Pending rules set the arrow.
Florida enacted SB 484 in May 2026. It requires the Public Service Commission to make customers of 50 MW or more bear their full cost of service, protects local zoning authority, cuts data center projects out of the 12-month confidentiality extension for economic development records and tightens water permitting. The four investor-owned utilities filed tariffs or compliance statements by 1 October 2026; FPL says its 20-year large-load tariff approved in November 2025 already complies. The sales tax exemption survives through June 2037 but since August 2025 only for facilities of 100 MW or more. More than a dozen counties have adopted moratoria or bans, including 12-month pauses in Nassau, Sarasota and Palm Beach, and Manatee County is drafting one.
The PSC must now review the 1 October 2026 filings: FPL's compliance statement, Tampa Electric's new tariff, with a decision expected in late 2026 or early 2027, and Duke Energy Florida's proposed 20-year large-load tariff in Docket 20260064-EI, where Duke commits to a dedicated rate effective 1 January 2028. The act sets no PSC rulemaking deadline. A state-commissioned study of data center impacts is due 1 July 2027. Manatee County's moratorium still needs planning commission and board hearings, and the Fort Meade development agreement has not been confirmed. The 3 November 2026 governor's race matters: Democrat David Jolly has pledged a first-day moratorium on hyperscale data centers and said in September that a complete ban should be on the table, while Republican Byron Donalds favors local siting control with ratepayer protections.
No statewide moratorium, but 3 local pauses are in force as of 23 October 2026, in Nassau County, Palm Beach County, Sarasota County. Proposals and expired pauses are not counted.
Tightening. Florida is graded Substantial, which means binding new costs, siting limits or disclosure rules on new data centers. 2026 law makes 50 MW loads pay full cost; counties pause. The outlook above says what is pending.
Florida sits in Southeast utilities. The grid operator decides how a new large load is studied, what it must bring or pay, and whether it can be curtailed first; the state decides siting, permits, tariffs and incentives.
Yes. Florida has paused, narrowed or ended a data center incentive in 2025 or 2026: HB 7031: sales tax exemption limited to 100 MW and above.
On Genloop's five-line rubric (1 least regulated, 5 most) Florida scores grid connection 3, power rates 5, siting and land use 3, tax treatment 3, permits and water 4, a mean of 3.6. The most regulated line is power rates: SB 484, in force 1 July 2026, is a statewide full cost-of-service law for 50 MW loads; FPL's compliant tariff adds 20-year terms, minimum bills and exit fees.
14 items: each is a law, order, tariff, ruling, utility action or local decision that changes what a data center must do, pay or disclose, or where it may be built. Failed and pending measures are marked. Each links to its source.
FPL's Large Load Contract Service terms, approved in November 2025 as part of its 2026 to 2029 rate plan, require applicants to fund an engineering study, pay 100 percent of new generation built for them, build their own substation, meet a minimum bill on reserved capacity, sign a 20-year minimum contract and pay an exit fee. The PSC still has to review the compliance filing.
Source: wusf.orgFiled with the PSC under SB 484. Large-load customers would pay for the infrastructure that serves them and a share of system costs. TECO has no such customer yet and expects a decision in late 2026 or early 2027.
Source: baynews9.comEach investor-owned utility (FPL, Duke Energy Florida, Tampa Electric and Florida Public Utilities) had to file a tariff complying with s. 366.043 for PSC approval by 1 October 2026. The PSC may approve tools such as minimum bills, exit fees and credit support but the act sets no rulemaking deadline. Municipal utilities and cooperatives such as JEA, OUC and Gainesville Regional Utilities are not covered.
Source: flsenate.govCommissioners voted 6-0 on 24 September 2026 to stop accepting or approving zoning requests for data centers with peak load of 50 MW or more in unincorporated areas for up to a year. In July they rejected a large expansion of Project Tango, which keeps a smaller 2016 approval.
Source: cbs12.comSarasota County adopted a 12-month pause on data centers in July 2026 to study impacts and write permanent rules.
Source: baynews9.comProposed for customers expected to reach 50 MW or more: a 20-year contract, minimum payments on 75 to 85 percent of contracted capacity, credit support, two years' notice to leave and an exit payment of three years of minimum bills plus unrecovered facility costs. The case was at the prehearing stage in late July 2026.
Source: psc.state.fl.usCommissioners voted unanimously in late July 2026 to have staff draft a moratorium on data centers and similar large-load projects, intended to last at least a year, along with new development rules on power, water and public safety. It still needs hearings before the planning commission and the board; final adoption was not confirmed. The report says more than a dozen Florida counties have adopted moratoria or bans.
Source: govtech.comCommissioners approved a 12-month moratorium in June 2026 on accepting, reviewing or approving data center applications, including rezonings and site plans, while a committee studies impacts.
Source: news4jax.comSigned 7 May 2026 after votes of 31-6 and 92-16; most provisions took effect 1 July 2026. Customers with an anticipated monthly peak of 50 MW or more at one site must bear their full cost of service and may not split loads to avoid it. Tariffs may not block curtailment for grid stability, and utilities may not knowingly serve large loads controlled by foreign countries of concern.
Source: flsenate.govLocal governments keep comprehensive planning and land development authority over large-load customers, and a large load customer may not be treated as an electric substation under s. 163.3208; these provisions took effect on signing, 7 May 2026. The act also bars data center projects from the 12-month extension of confidentiality for economic development information under s. 288.075, so project details become public sooner.
Source: flsenate.govWater permits may not be issued if the use would harm water resources or conflict with local zoning. Reclaimed water must be used where available and feasible, and applications averaging 100,000 gallons a day or more need detailed source and conservation plans and a hearing.
Source: news4jax.comFort Meade's planning board approved Stonebridge's plan for 1.9 million square feet, expandable to 4.4 million, on 7 April 2026 despite a petition of about 500 residents. By July 2026 the city was reported to have agreed to a development plan.
Source: baynews9.comThe county planning and zoning commission voted 4-2 in October 2025 to recommend against a plan amendment for a 1,218-acre campus near Fort Pierce planned for a first 1,000 MW. In February 2026 a county commissioner said the developer appeared to have pulled back ahead of the state data center law, though it had not formally withdrawn. No county commission vote has been reported.
Source: wflx.comPassed 30 June 2025 and effective 1 August 2025. The data center sales tax exemption now applies only to facilities with a critical IT load of 100 MW or more, up from 15 MW, with no grandfathering for smaller sites.
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