Data-centre moratoriums spread from Virginia to Scotland as Congress targets ratepayer costs

The board of Loudoun County in Virginia voted to pause new data-centre applications, introducing a 12-month moratorium in what the industry press calls a data-centre hotspot¹. On Wednesday evening the Scottish Parliament passed a pause on new data centres in Scotland, a motion brought by the Scottish Greens; the outlet reporting it noted the measure is watered down against the full moratorium campaigners had sought for months².

The same pattern is visible elsewhere. Brazil’s president signed the ReData data-centre bill into law, after it passed the Senate in September³. In South Africa, local opposition to an American-owned project was summarised by one objection quoted in coverage of the protests: “A massive data center is trying to jump the queue and take our land, water, and energy.”⁴

Why it matters to investors

In Washington the fight is over who pays for new generation rather than over whether the buildings go up. The House passed the bipartisan Ratepayer Protection Act by 417 votes to 3, in what Axios called Congress’s most significant step yet to shield consumers from the soaring infrastructure costs of the AI boom⁵. The bill would require state utility regulators to consider rules making data centres cover some of the costs of new power generation, and its passage gives lawmakers a response to an issue that has become a political flashpoint before the midterms⁵.

A second front targets the tax treatment. Separate legislation has been introduced to stop tax giveaways for data centres, framed against the cost of gas, groceries and housing⁶. A companion bill led by McDonald Rivet and Davis would end data-centre tax breaks granted under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, including 100% bonus depreciation⁷.

What to watch

Capacity is also running into a labour constraint. Industry research found data-centre expansion is outpacing talent, with more than two-thirds of respondents reporting staffing below operational requirements⁸.

Three markers follow. The first is whether the Ratepayer Protection Act, which cleared the House by 417 to 3, advances in the Senate, since a near-unanimous vote is unusual for an energy-cost measure⁵. The second is whether the bonus-depreciation repeal gains support, because it would change project economics rather than siting⁷. The third is whether local pauses of the Loudoun County type spread to other hotspots, which would move the binding constraint from chips and power to permission^1,2.