At Wednesday’s Columbus Metropolitan Club forum at the National Veterans Memorial and Museum, Ohio Manufacturers’ Association President Ryan Augsburger argued that Ohio’s data center debate should focus on whether the state is making disciplined, accountable energy decisions as growth accelerates.

Augsburger said the bigger risk is a regulatory structure that rewards utilities for building capital projects instead of demanding accurate forecasts before billion-dollar investments move forward. That leaves manufacturers and other captive customers exposed if projected demand never materializes.

“We’re seeing some downright outlandish future load forecast numbers being bandied about by investors and utilities,” Augsburger said. “These are projections that the utilities did not defend in their proceedings at the PUCO in the last year.”

Augsburger also called for greater transparency and accountability in electricity forecasting as Ohio policymakers debate the future of data center development.

Other panelists included Jeffrey Bielicki, Timothy Chadwick and Christopher Wyche, who brought perspectives from academia, industry and local government to the debate. Other topics included the environmental impacts of data centers and what data centers will look like 10 years from now. 4/22/2026