Graded Minimal and tightening. 8 laws, orders, rulings and local actions, each with its source, reviewed 23 October 2026.
HB 672 (Aug 2025) lets off-grid generators sell straight to data centers free of rate regulation; no study, fee or obligation applies.
No large-load tariff exists or is filed; the House energy chair said in Sep 2025 none was expected soon.
No moratorium is in force; the governor said on 22 Oct 2026 she lacks authority to order one and the bills are for 2027.
New Hampshire has no sales tax, no data center incentive and no action on one, so there is nothing to lose or gain.
No water reporting, air permit or disclosure rule for data centers is in force.
Scored on rules in force, 1 to 5. 5 is the most regulated. Pending rules set the arrow.
New Hampshire has no general sales tax, so there is no data center exemption to grant or repeal, and HB 672, signed in August 2025, still lets generators that are not connected to the grid sell directly to customers such as data centers without the usual rate regulation or renewable standards. The politics reversed in 2026. Governor Ayotte, who signed HB 672, said on September 2, 2026 that she opposes any data center in the state, including a hyperscale project being studied at Bow, and will put a multiyear moratorium in her next budget; on 22 October 2026 she said the Attorney General advised she lacks authority to impose one by executive order. State House Democrats said on September 2 they will file a 24-month moratorium bill for 2027. Nothing is in force yet, and no large-load tariff was found. A proposal in Nottingham was withdrawn in 2026 after residents objected, and towns including Nottingham and Rochester have considered local moratoria.
Both candidates for governor backed a statewide data center moratorium at the 22 October 2026 forum, so some form of it is likely to be before the Legislature when the 2027 session opens in January. Ayotte says she will put a ban in her next budget and urge a standalone moratorium bill; the budget route could not take effect before about July 2027, and her statement that the Attorney General advised she lacks executive order authority also undercuts Cinde Warmington's pledge to order a temporary moratorium on her first day if elected on November 3, 2026. Democrats' 24-month moratorium bill is due for filing in the 2027 session. ISO New England is formalizing its review of large data center interconnection requests, and the early-stage Bow proposal could reach 350 MW.
No. As of 23 October 2026 no statewide or local moratorium on data centers is in force in New Hampshire. Proposals and expired pauses are not counted.
Tightening. New Hampshire is graded Minimal, which means few binding rules, with new incentives or fast-track permitting in force. Governor and Democrats both now want a statewide moratorium; nothing in force yet. The outlook above says what is pending.
New Hampshire sits in ISO-NE. 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. New Hampshire's data center incentives were not pulled back in 2025 or 2026 as of 23 October 2026.
On Genloop's five-line rubric (1 least regulated, 5 most) New Hampshire scores grid connection 1, power rates 1, siting and land use 1, tax treatment 3, permits and water 1, a mean of 1.4. The most regulated line is tax treatment: New Hampshire has no sales tax, no data center incentive and no action on one, so there is nothing to lose or gain.
8 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.
At an NHPR gubernatorial forum in Manchester on 22 October 2026 both Governor Ayotte and challenger Cinde Warmington backed a statewide data center moratorium. Asked why she has not halted projects by executive order, Ayotte said the Attorney General advised she lacks the legal authority; she pledged to put a ban in her next budget and to urge the Legislature to pass a standalone moratorium bill. Warmington said Ayotte only turned against data centers once it became politically inconvenient to support them.
Source: nhpr.orgISO New England is formalizing a process for assessing large data center interconnection requests, included a hypothetical 285 MW data center in its annual report for the first time, and is studying a separate energy market for large customers to shield the region from price spikes. The early-stage Bow proposal on the former coal plant site could be up to 350 MW; the Nottingham proposal has been shelved. New Hampshire still has no state framework, unlike Massachusetts' local-support and community benefit requirement above 25 MW.
Source: nhpr.orgOn September 2, 2026 the governor, who is running for re-election, said she is against putting any data center in New Hampshire and supports a moratorium lasting a period of years to study energy, water and noise impacts. She plans to put it in her next budget proposal, so it would not take effect before the budget passes, around July 2027. No size threshold was given and she did not say she would act by executive order. She first said in August 2026 that she supports a state moratorium.
Source: nhpr.orgState House Democrats said on September 2, 2026 they will file legislation for the 2027 session to impose a 24-month moratorium on data center development. Voters in several towns, including Nottingham and Rochester, have considered local moratoria in the meantime.
Source: nhpr.orgDemocratic candidate for governor Cinde Warmington wrote in mid 2026 that on day one she would issue an executive order placing a temporary moratorium on large-scale data centers and then write a regulatory framework. Rep. Tanya Donnelly and the Josiah Bartlett Center pushed back at an Americans for Prosperity roundtable in June 2026, arguing data centers use little water and pay significant property tax.
Source: patch.comA proposed data center drew hundreds of residents to a planning board meeting in 2026 and was withdrawn before a formal application. Groundwater withdrawals above 57,600 gallons a day need a state permit.
Source: patch.comIn September 2025 the House energy chair said he did not expect a special large-load rate schedule soon. HB 710, to let utilities own small modular reactors, failed in 2025 and a similar bill was planned for 2026.
Source: route-fifty.comSigned August 2025. Power providers that operate independently of the grid may sell directly to customers such as data centers and crypto miners, exempt from utility rate regulation and the renewable portfolio standard.
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