Alabama Power Redacts Key Terms In Data Center Rate Filing

✓What's documented Built on the actual filed contract and APSC orders, with an on-record quote from the commission's chief administrative law judge.

Alabama Power filed a contract with state regulators to serve a proposed Nebius AI data center in Birmingham, but redacted nearly every term needed to verify its claim that existing customers won't bear any project costs. The filing is grandfathered under the old, faster review process just before a tougher state law takes effect October 1. Utilities earn a regulated return on the infrastructure they build to serve big loads, so how these contracts are priced, and how visible that pricing is, sits at the center of the ratepayer cost-shift question.

• Filing to the Alabama Public Service Commission redacts contract term length, capacity, pricing schedule, financial security amount, load-buildup period, and minimum-bill details.
• Alabama Power says the deal recovers all incremental costs and puts "downward pressure on rates," but the figures needed to check that claim are withheld.
• A new state law requiring APSC to confirm data centers cover their own costs before contract approval takes effect October 1, 2026; this contract, filed the week of July 30, is exempt because it predates that date.
• APSC extended its contract review window from 10 days to 45 days after commissioners said staff needed more time to evaluate increasingly complex large-load deals.
• Public comment on APSC's broader data center contract review docket closes August 6, 2026.