Graded Minimal and steady. 12 laws, orders, rulings and local actions, each with its source, reviewed 27 October 2026.
SB 2001 (Jan 2024) waived PSC approval of Entergy's Amazon contract and plants, and Compass got a special contract in Feb 2025; no study or fee applies.
No large-load tariff exists; SB 2001 (Jan 2024) lets data center plant costs be recovered without prior approval and lifts the 4% rate cap.
Jackson's six-month moratorium (14 July 2026) is the one local pause in force; no state siting rule applies.
The standing ten-year sales, use, income and franchise exemptions apply at $20 million and 20 jobs, used by xAI's $20 billion campus on 8 Jan 2026.
MDEQ's 30 July 2026 order sets a retirement schedule for xAI's 69 temporary generators and the 41-turbine air permit is under an evidentiary hearing request.
Scored on rules in force, 1 to 5. 5 is the most regulated. Pending rules set the arrow.
Mississippi is recruiting hard. Its standing incentive exempts qualifying data centers from sales, use, income and franchise taxes for ten years, and a January 2024 special-session law (SB 2001) added state money, a permanent equipment tax exemption and a waiver of prior Public Service Commission approval for Entergy's contract with Amazon and the plants built to serve it. Regulators approved a Mississippi Power contract for Compass in Meridian that keeps a coal unit running into the mid-2030s, and the state issued an air permit for 41 gas turbines at xAI's Southaven plant three weeks after a hearing where no one spoke in favor. Pushback so far comes from residents, a federal Clean Air Act lawsuit that survived a Justice Department dismissal motion on 19 October 2026, a May 2026 report estimating that Entergy households already pay about $10.60 a month more, and Jackson, which adopted the state's first data center moratorium on 14 July 2026.
The legislative AI task force that held hearings on 13 and 14 July 2026 is expected to make recommendations before the 2027 session, with behind-the-meter generation flagged as a gap in current law; no bill is filed. The NAACP's Clean Air Act case proceeds in the Northern District of Mississippi after the 19 October 2026 ruling, with the May 2026 motion to shut down the Southaven turbines still undecided; MDEQ's July 2026 order requires most temporary generators to retire by April 2027 and the last by 14 July 2027, when the 41 permitted turbines are due. The permit hearing request on the 41 turbines is pending at MDEQ. Jackson's six-month moratorium runs to about January 2027 while it drafts data center standards. The commission keeps only after-the-fact prudence review of Entergy's Amazon spending, and Entergy's proposed October 2026 rate reduction tied in part to data center revenue awaited approval.
No statewide moratorium, but 1 local pause is in force as of 27 October 2026, in Jackson. Proposals and expired pauses are not counted.
Steady. Mississippi is graded Minimal, which means few binding rules, with new incentives or fast-track permitting in force. Broad tax breaks and no up-front utility review for Amazon. The outlook above says what is pending.
Mississippi sits in MISO and TVA and 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.
No. Mississippi's data center incentives were not pulled back in 2025 or 2026 as of 27 October 2026.
On Genloop's five-line rubric (1 least regulated, 5 most) Mississippi scores grid connection 1, power rates 1, siting and land use 2, tax treatment 1, permits and water 2, a mean of 1.4. The most regulated line is siting and land use: Jackson's six-month moratorium (14 July 2026) is the one local pause in force; no state siting rule applies.
12 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.
On 19 October 2026 the US District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi denied the Justice Department's motion to dismiss the NAACP's Clean Air Act citizen suit over xAI's unpermitted Southaven turbines, holding that the government cannot unilaterally end a citizen suit, while allowing it to intervene. The Fifth Circuit had earlier declined to stay the proceedings. The NAACP's May 2026 motion to shut the turbines remains undecided.
Source: earthjustice.orgA 30 July 2026 MDEQ order agreed to by xAI requires it to begin retiring the 69 unpermitted temporary gas generators at Southaven on 18 August 2026, with most units off by April 2027 and the last by 14 July 2027. xAI sought the extension because supply delays are holding up the 41 permitted permanent turbines. MDEQ has held the temporary units need no air permit.
Source: mississippitoday.orgThe Public Service Commission approved Entergy Mississippi's annual rate plan effective with the July 2026 billing cycle, which the utility says avoided a $4.87 monthly increase because of data center revenue. In August 2026 Entergy filed for a further $0.41 reduction to take effect in October 2026 if approved, and it projects more than $2 billion in customer savings over two decades under its Fair Share Plus pledge.
Source: entergy.comThe Jackson City Council voted 5-2 on 14 July 2026 for a six-month citywide moratorium on data centers, the first in the state, exempting land around the airport, while the city identifies suitable sites and studies impacts. Saxum's rezoning request for a 230-acre site in northwest Jackson had been postponed at the developer's request on 27 May 2026 pending city standards.
Source: mississippitoday.orgThe Mississippi Artificial Intelligence Regulation Task Force, created by the Legislature in 2025, heard 19 speakers on 13 and 14 July 2026 on data center costs and community effects. Most speakers urged local control; behind-the-meter generation was identified as an area for future legislation. Recommendations are expected before the 2027 session, and no bill has resulted so far.
Source: mississippitoday.orgA Synapse report for Earthjustice dated 28 May 2026 estimates Entergy Mississippi residential bills are about $10.60 a month higher because of the Interim Capacity and Facilities Rate Adjustment tied to data center investment, with residential customers having paid about $38 million by March 2026 and projected to pay $74 million by the end of 2026. Entergy disputes this; key filings are confidential under SB 2001 nondisclosure terms.
Source: earthjustice.orgThe NAACP sued xAI and MZX Tech on 14 April 2026 over gas turbines run at Southaven without a permit since August 2025, and asked on 6 May for a preliminary injunction to shut them down. The Justice Department moved on 15 June 2026 to intervene and dismiss; that motion was denied on 19 October 2026.
Source: selc.orgThe Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality permit board voted unanimously on 10 March 2026 to permit 41 permanent turbines at xAI's Southaven power plant. The NAACP, Young, Gifted and Green and the Safe and Sound Coalition appealed on 9 April 2026 by requesting an MDEQ evidentiary hearing, arguing the permit rests on faulty pollution data.
Source: selc.orgGovernor Tate Reeves announced xAI's $20 billion data center and power plant in Southaven on 8 January 2026, calling it the largest single investment in state history. It will use the state's standing data center incentive, which exempts qualifying companies from sales, use, corporate income and franchise taxes.
Source: mississippitoday.orgA 2025 bill to let qualifying data centers extend their tax exemptions by up to two further ten-year periods for expansions and hardware replacement passed the Senate 51 to 0 but died in House committee on 18 March 2025.
Source: legiscan.comOn 7 February 2025 the Public Service Commission unanimously approved a special contract for Mississippi Power to serve Compass Datacenters' $10 billion, eight-building campus in Lauderdale County near Meridian. The utility said this requires keeping at least one Plant Daniel coal unit, due to close by 2028, running into the mid-2030s.
Source: mississippitoday.orgThe January 2024 law for Amazon's Madison County campuses lets Entergy's supply contract proceed without commission approval, bars the commission from changing its terms, allows related plants to be built and costs recovered before they are in service without prior approval, lifts the 4% cap on annual rate increases tied to that spending and keeps the contract confidential. The commission retains after-the-fact prudence review. It was passed alongside a state incentive package for the project.
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