Data Centers & Large Loads

If a data center buys land near you outside a municipality or industrial park, it must notify you by certified mail within 60 days. Failing to do so carries a $1,500 per day penalty.

The provision that affects neighbours

This is the part of the 2026 law most relevant to rural landowners, and the part least reported.

A large load customer, or any developer, owner or entity acting on its behalf, that buys land in Oklahoma outside an industrial development park or a municipality must notify:

• the Oklahoma Corporation Commission
• the county commissioners of the county where the land is
• and every adjacent property owner whose land abuts the purchase.

Notice is due within 60 days of the purchase, by certified mail, return receipt requested, to the last-known business or residential address.

What counts as a large load customer

New data centers, new cryptocurrency mining operations, and new facilities whose primary function is artificial-intelligence computing, that contract to add 75 megawatts or more per facility or in aggregate behind a single point of interconnection, for load added after July 1, 2026.

The definition expressly excludes residential, commercial, agricultural and industrial ratepayers, and entities building generation for behind-the-meter projects.

The ratepayer side

Electric suppliers must maintain separate terms, conditions and tariffs for large load customers, including credit requirements and recovery of costs that would otherwise be stranded if the customer leaves or materially cuts load. The minimum term of service is ten years.

Rate-setting bodies must ensure residential, commercial and industrial customers are protected from unjust rates resulting from serving large loads, with costs allocated by cost causation: the customer who causes the cost bears it.

This applies to all retail electric suppliers: investor-owned utilities, cooperatives, municipal utilities and public power.

Related pages

• Groundwater reporting and metering
• Legislative watch