Illinois Bill Could Shield Ratepayers From Data Centers

House Bill 5513 would require data centers to power their own operations, with a lame duck vote targeted for early January 2026.

Updated on Nov. 6, 2026 in Data Centers

Illinois Bill Could Shield Ratepayers From Data Centers

Live Poll

Should data centers be required to pay their own energy costs instead of passing them to households?

Illinois House Majority Leader Robyn Gabel's data center bill, House Bill 5513, is targeted for passage during the lame duck session in early January 2026. The bill is a forecast, not an enacted law; stakeholder meetings have only just begun.

Why it matters

The push would set rules for how data centers draw on state power and whether their costs reach household bills, as Illinois weighs their growth against energy demand. The state is also pausing data center tax credits starting July 1, signaling that lawmakers are reassessing incentives before any regulatory framework is in place.

The study by the Illinois Economic Policy Institute and the Project for Middle Class Renewal estimates data center investments generate almost $300 million per year in property tax revenue. That projection covers the next decade, and the bill's effect on energy use and consumer rates has not been modeled in the available reporting.

The players

Robyn Gabel

Illinois state representative and House majority leader who is the chief sponsor of House Bill 5513, representing an Evanston-area district.

JB Pritzker

Governor of Illinois who ordered the pause of data center tax credits and expects a regulatory bill to be ready for the fall veto session.

Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition

Advocacy coalition supporting the POWER Act and the clean energy direction of the data center legislation.

Citizens Utility Board

Consumer advocacy group that supports the POWER Act and its protections against cost shifting to ratepayers.

Illinois Economic Policy Institute

Research institute that co-authored the study finding data center investments generate almost $300 million per year in Illinois property tax revenue.

The details

House Bill 5513 would prohibit shifting data center costs onto consumers and require data centers to power their own operations. It also includes clean energy incentives. Gabel said the goal is to keep data centers from consuming all available state energy and leaving consumers with higher bills, and state officials have begun a new round of stakeholder meetings to draft the bill.

April 2025: Gabel said at a Chicago news conference that lawmakers would pass the POWER Act.
Spring 2025: Lawmakers failed to approve the POWER Act amid opposition objections.
July 1: Pritzker's pause of data center tax credits takes effect.
Nov. 17: Fall veto session is scheduled to begin.
Early January 2026: Lame duck session is targeted for passing the data center bill.

The Tech Race

The POWER Act's failure in spring 2025 set the stage for a second attempt, with Gabel's House Bill 5513 carrying forward its core provisions. Illinois is positioning itself among states writing rules for data center energy demand while the Governor simultaneously pauses the tax incentives that drew these projects.

If enacted, the bill's cost-shift protections would govern whether data center power demand is passed through to household electricity bills. The bill has not passed, and the rules would not take effect until after a lame duck vote and the governor's action.

The takeaway

Watch whether House Bill 5513 is filed and voted on during the early January 2026 lame duck session, a concrete test of whether Illinois will tie data center growth to self-powering and ratepayer protections. Track the fall veto session starting Nov. 17 for the governor's regulatory bill as the next checkpoint.

What happens next

Lawmakers aim to pass House Bill 5513 during the early January 2026 lame duck session, and Pritzker expects a regulatory bill to be ready for the Nov. 17 fall veto session.