Graded Moderate and tightening. 14 laws, orders, rulings and local actions, each with its source, reviewed 23 October 2026.
ComEd's deposit tariff, approved 19 March 2026, charges $1 million for 50 to 200 MW plus $500,000 per further 100 MW; no study fee or curtailment-first rule.
No large-load tariff or rate class is in force; the ICC's ratepayer protection probe opened April 2026 and the POWER Act awaits the Nov 2026 veto session.
Chicago's Aug 2026 executive order adds multi-agency review, Plainfield's April 2026 pause and Aurora's March 2026 rules hit the metro; five cities paused.
The governor stopped DCEO from processing new Data Center Investment Program agreements from 1 July 2026 with no end date; signed agreements are honored.
Chicago's 23 Sept 2026 benchmarking change makes city data centers report energy use; no statewide water, air or NDA rule is in force.
Scored on rules in force, 1 to 5. 5 is the most regulated. Pending rules set the arrow.
Illinois has moved from recruiting data centers to slowing them. Governor Pritzker told the commerce department to stop processing new Data Center Investment Program agreements from 1 July 2026 and asked lawmakers to pass a seven-part framework covering a separate rate class, interruptible service, clean energy supply, water permits and a ban on nondisclosure agreements. The POWER Act (HB 5513/SB 4016) did not pass in the spring session. At the Illinois Commerce Commission, ComEd's higher large-load deposits were approved in March 2026 and a wider investigation into ratepayer protections is under way. Chicago ended the data center exemption from its energy benchmarking rules on 23 September 2026, but the mayor's 12-month moratorium was sent to the Rules Committee. Other cities are split: Naperville rejected a project, Aurora and Plainfield used moratoria, Bloomington, Carbondale, Effingham, West Chicago and Mattoon have paused development, and Joliet approved a 1.8 GW campus.
The November 2026 veto session is the next chance for the POWER Act or the governor's framework to pass, and a 1 October 2026 report from the Illinois Economic Policy Institute and the University of Illinois backs POWER Act style rules, a statewide ban on nondisclosure agreements and tighter terms for the state tax break. Chicago's executive order requires air permit and noise rules by about 9 November 2026 and task force code recommendations by 15 March 2027, while the mayor's 12-month moratorium ordinance, introduced on 23 September 2026, sits in the City Council Rules Committee with its fate uncertain. The Commerce Commission's large-load investigation, opened by April 2026 on an eight-month clock, points to a conclusion around the end of 2026 or early 2027. Plainfield's 180-day pause, adopted in April 2026, has run its course and its extension has not been confirmed.
No statewide moratorium, but 2 local pauses are in force as of 23 October 2026, in Bloomington, Carbondale, Effingham, West Chicago, Mattoon, Plainfield. Proposals and expired pauses are not counted.
Tightening. Illinois is graded Moderate, which means incentives alongside new costs, limits or local pushback. Incentives paused since July 2026; cost rules due in veto session. The outlook above says what is pending.
Illinois sits in PJM and MISO. 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. Illinois has paused, narrowed or ended a data center incentive in 2025 or 2026: Governor's pause on new Data Center Investment Program agreements; Data Center Investment Program (2019 sales tax exemption and construction tax credit); ILEPI and University of Illinois report backs POWER Act style rules ahead of veto session.
On Genloop's five-line rubric (1 least regulated, 5 most) Illinois scores grid connection 2, power rates 2, siting and land use 3, tax treatment 4, permits and water 2, a mean of 2.6. The most regulated line is tax treatment: The governor stopped DCEO from processing new Data Center Investment Program agreements from 1 July 2026 with no end date; signed agreements are honored.
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.
A 1 October 2026 report by the Illinois Economic Policy Institute and the University of Illinois Project for Middle Class Renewal projects $57 billion of data center investment through 2035 creating about 121,000 jobs but only about 2,800 permanent ones, with roughly $12 a month added to average residential bills at 6.5 GW of new demand. It recommends a statewide ban on nondisclosure agreements with developers, a ban on local property tax abatements, higher thresholds and shorter terms for the state tax break, and POWER Act style clean energy and water permit requirements. DCEO estimated more than $660 million of tax break value received as of 2025. The POWER Act remains unpassed pending the November veto session.
Source: capitolnewsillinois.comAt its 23 September 2026 meeting the City Council voted to remove data center exemptions from the city's Energy Benchmarking Ordinance, so data centers must report energy use like other large buildings. The industry's Data Center Coalition did not oppose the change. The vote count and effective date were not reported.
Source: news.wttw.comAs of 23 September 2026, Bloomington, Carbondale, Effingham, West Chicago and Mattoon had paused new data center development or expansion. Governor Pritzker has said he lacks the authority to impose a statewide construction moratorium.
Source: axios.comMayor Johnson and allied aldermen introduced an ordinance at the 23 September 2026 City Council meeting to halt new data center development in the city for 12 months while a task force writes a regulatory framework. It would cover facilities over 1,000 square feet with more than 20% of floor space given to servers. Two aldermen sent it to the Rules Committee, where its fate is uncertain. A separate ordinance from Ald. Bill Conway to require planned development review for data centers was also sent to Rules.
Source: news.wttw.comMayor Johnson's order applies enhanced multi-agency review to data center projects needing a new Planned Development, requires air permit and noise rules within about 90 days (around 9 November 2026), task force code recommendations by 15 March 2027, and asks the City Council to enact a moratorium.
Source: dlapiper.comAnnounced 5 June 2026: the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity stopped processing new agreements from 1 July 2026. Agreements signed before that date are honored. The governor's release gives no end date; some press reports described it as a two-year suspension.
Source: gov-pritzker-newsroom.prezly.comWould require data centers to pay for and bring their own clean energy, report water use, avoid shifting grid costs to other customers and sign community benefits agreements. Introduced February 2026, it did not advance before the 31 May deadline; the sponsor expects to bring it back in the November veto session.
Source: route-fifty.comThe Village Board voted unanimously in April 2026 to pause data center applications for 180 days while it finishes a new development ordinance; it can extend the pause. Nearby Yorkville's mayor said there is no appetite for proposals beyond those already approved.
Source: shawlocal.comWhen approving ComEd's deposit tariff the commission ordered staff to open a proceeding by 23 April 2026 to identify further ratepayer protections and cost recovery mechanisms for large loads. The review is to be completed within eight months or as quickly as possible, which points to about the end of 2026.
Source: pv-magazine-usa.comApproved 19 March 2026. Projects of 50 MW or more pay a deposit of $1 million for 50 to 200 MW plus $500,000 for each further 100 MW, replacing a flat $1 million. ComEd reported more than 75 large-load projects in its pipeline seeking over 28 GW against a 24 GW record peak.
Source: capitolnewsillinois.comOn 24 March 2026 the City Council set lower sound limits, required sound studies and resource consumption reports, and made every new data center subject to council approval. The moratorium adopted in autumn 2025 was extended by 30 days at the same time.
Source: nprillinois.orgThe City Council voted 8 to 1 on 19 March 2026 to approve preliminary plans and annexation for a roughly $20 billion, 795-acre campus of up to 24 buildings drawing up to 1.8 GW in four phases.
Source: therealdeal.comThe City Council voted 6 to 1 in January 2026 against a 36 MW, 145,000 square foot facility, citing uncertainty about future electricity supply and cost, noise and emissions.
Source: bisnow.comCreated in 2019. A state report found 27 data centers received more than $983 million in benefits from 2020 to 2024. Existing agreements continue; new agreements have been on hold since 1 July 2026.
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