U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville said Thursday that Alabama can keep building data centers without raising anyone’s power bill – and the counties and cities that welcome them will get a check every month for schools and law enforcement.

“We’re not going to use power that is going to drive up the cost of power across the state,” Tuberville (R-Auburn), frontrunner in the 2026 governor’s race said on WVNN’s “The Dale Jackson Show.”

“We want to make sure people understand that we’re taking care of them and not just data centers,” he said.

Tuberville is driving the same guarantee in Washington.

The U.S. House passed the Ratepayer Protection Act on Wednesday, which would require states to consider standards making data centers and other customers drawing 100 megawatts or more pay the full cost of the power plants, transmission lines and grid upgrades built to serve them.

Tuberville announced this week he’s cosponsoring the Senate version of the measure. It would put into play aspects of the Ratepayer Protection Pledge President Donald Trump signed with major tech companies at the White House in March, which Tuberville first backed then.

“Data centers can be game changers for communities all across my state of Alabama,” Tuberville said.

“I understand why many Alabamians have concerns about these facilities coming to their neighborhoods and increasing energy costs. That’s why I cosponsored the Ratepayer Protection Act to make sure Alabamians aren’t left footing the bill for any new data centers. We are going to continue holding big tech accountable to make sure that if they want to build a data center in Alabama, they do it the right way.”

Data centers can be game changers for communities all across Alabama. But if a data center wants to move to Alabama, they need to pay their own way.
 
I’ve cosponsored the Ratepayer Protection Act in the Senate to make sure Alabamians aren’t left footing the bill for any new data…

— Coach Tommy Tuberville (@SenTuberville) September 16, 2026

In Alabama, state lawmakers put that standard into practice this year.

The Power to the People Act, which takes effect in October, requires the Alabama Public Service Commission to determine that any large data center contract with Alabama Power recovers the full cost of serving that customer before it is approved.

The PSC has already begun to write the review procedures, and those rules will be in place before Tuberville presumptively takes office as the next governor in January.

Alabama Power reports that large-load customers already pay the full cost of the facilities, upgrades and capacity built to serve them.

RELATED: Officials react to Alabama Power capping new rate hikes: ‘Leaders in affordability and reliability’

Tuberville’s opponent in the 2026 governor’s race, Democrat Doug Jones (D-Mountain Brook), has called for a one-year moratorium on new data centers.

Senator Tuberville called that “exactly the opposite of what we need to do” at last month’s BCA conference.

He added Thursday that the ultimate decision on any local project belongs to local communities, and that he tells them the same thing.

“And again, it’s mailbox money for a lot of these counties. The governor doesn’t make this decision. It’s the mayor and the city council and the county commissioners,” Tuberville said in the interview.

“So, you know, they asked me about it, and I said, ‘Well, listen, I support it simply for the fact that I know that it’s the future, and it’s not going to stop just because we’re talking about it. If we don’t do it, Tennessee’s going to do it. Georgia’s going to do it. Mississippi’s going to do it, and again, it is not something that’s going to take away anything from the citizens of the state. It is going to help the state. It’ll bring in millions of dollars.’”

“It is mailbox money, just for the counties and the cities to just set off in Never Never Land,” Tuberville said. “Nobody ever sees it or hears it, but you get a check every month and a big check to help schools and the law enforcement and all those things.”