The Ohio Manufacturers’ Association (OMA) this week warned that a proposed AES Ohio data center tariff could leave manufacturers, families and other customers exposed to more than $1.3 billion in transmission costs tied to just two data center projects.

An analysis filed by OMA energy consultant John Seryak found that AES Ohio could receive roughly $2.77 billion in guaranteed transmission cost recovery over 40 years, while the data centers would be responsible for only about $1.4 billion under a 12-year payment obligation. That leaves a $1.37 billion shortfall that could fall on other customers.

“Utilities are trying to sell these tariffs as customer protection, but the math tells a different story,” said Lindsey Short, OMA managing director of energy and advocacy services. “AES Ohio gets decades of guaranteed recovery, data centers get limited obligations and manufacturers and other customers could get stuck with the gap. That is not protection. It is risk-shifting.”

The OMA said the issue is not whether tariffs can protect customers, but whether utility-backed tariffs actually assign costs to the customers causing them. The association is urging regulators to reject proposals that leave manufacturers and other ratepayers exposed to speculative grid costs they did not cause. 6/23/2026