Lower Merion Township residents and other Montgomery County ratepayers got new protections on paper Tuesday, Aug. 18, when Gov. Josh Shapiro signed an executive order requiring data center developers to cover the full cost of their electricity infrastructure instead of shifting it onto household utility bills.

"No one's utility bill should go up because these wealthy companies don't pay their fair share," Shapiro said at the signing, according to KDKA Radio. "They should pay for every penny of electricity they need."

No data center is currently proposed in Lower Merion, but the order addresses grid-reliability costs that flow through to all ratepayers in the PECO service territory.

Executive Order 2026-05 applies to any data center drawing more than 25 megawatts of peak demand. It immediately removes those projects from Pennsylvania's fast-track permitting program, bans state agencies under the governor's jurisdiction from signing nondisclosure agreements on data center deals and strips the state's 6 percent sales tax exemption on equipment from any developer that fails to meet the governor's GRID (Responsible Infrastructure Development) standards, according to Power Magazine.

The order also gives municipalities an effective veto: the Department of Environmental Protection cannot issue state permits until a project has received all required local approvals.

Shapiro named Montgomery County in a post on X, writing that he had heard residents "loud and clear" that they do not want data centers raising utility costs or polluting their communities.

Local legislators call it a start

Five state legislators representing Montgomery County districts praised the order but said permanent legislation remains necessary, Mainline Media News reported.

State Rep. Joe Ciresi, D-146th District, said his bill prohibiting NDAs between data centers and public officials was incorporated into the order. State Sen. Tracy Pennycuick, R-24th District, said her Senate Bill 1408 goes further by banning secrecy agreements at both the state and local levels.

State Rep. Joe Webster, D-150th District, whose House Bill 2650 would codify GRID standards into law, said the order "ensures that no development moves forward without a community's approval" but added that more work is needed to address clean air and water concerns.

State Rep. Greg Scott, D-54th District, said the protections could already be in place if Senate Republican leaders had passed bipartisan data center bills the House already approved.

State Sen. Maria Collett, D-12th District, whose district includes Plymouth Township, noted that residents there have organized for over a year against a proposed 2-million-square-foot data center at 900 Conshohocken Road by developer Brian O'Neill's MLP Ventures.

The King of Prussia backdrop

Shapiro cited O'Neill's proposed 5-million-square-foot AI data center campus in Upper Merion Township as an example of a developer "steamrolling communities." The Upper Merion Board of Supervisors unanimously rejected that project on Friday, Aug. 14, after roughly 18,000 people signed a petition against it, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. O'Neill has said he plans to appeal.

Critics: executive orders don't survive elections

Not everyone is satisfied. The order can be reversed by the next governor on day one.

Joanna Binelli-Tenney, who helps manage the Prevent East Vincent Data Center Development Facebook page, called the order "just a lot of fluff" and "political theater," saying Pennsylvanians need a three-year moratorium instead.

State Sen. Katie Muth, D-44th District, questioned how Shapiro can claim the strictest standards "when there is a one-year moratorium in New York."

Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman said he has no intention of advancing data center regulation, the stance Shapiro cited as his reason for acting by executive order, PoliticsPA reported.

What's still pending

The Pennsylvania House has passed HB 1834 (ratepayer protections), HB 2650 (codifying GRID into law) and HB 2496 (180-day municipal moratorium, which passed 201-1). All remain stalled in the Senate. SB 1345, offering municipalities an 18-month moratorium, is also pending, according to the Mon Valley Independent.

The PUC ratepayer protections in the order are not self-executing. Shapiro's Special Counsel for Energy Affordability, Patrick Cicero, must advocate before the independent commission for new rules requiring data centers to bear their own grid-reliability costs. The Senate is expected to return in the fall, but no vote date has been scheduled.

Lower Merion Township did not respond to a request for comment on the order's local impact.