Data Center Power Costs: Who Pays Under the New Large-Load Statutes

Brian Greene, Co-Founder and Member | GreeneHurlocker, PLC

Brian Greene is a co-founder of GreeneHurlocker and an energy regulatory attorney with extensive experience advising large energy users, utilities, developers, and competitive suppliers. Brian advises data centers and other large-load customers on energy procurement, utility service, rate structures, infrastructure planning, and regulatory strategy. His work includes evaluating how new facilities will obtain reliable power, how the costs of necessary generation and transmission upgrades may be allocated, and how emerging large-load tariffs and statutes may affect project economics and development timelines.

• Education & Credentials

Brian earned his J.D. from Washington & Lee University School of Law in 1994, where he was a member of the Moot Court Board, and his B.A. from the University of Virginia in 1991. He is admitted to practice in Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia, as well as before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and various federal courts.

• Recognition & Leadership

Brian’s peers have selected him as a Super Lawyer every year since 2006, and he holds MartindaleHubbell’s highest (AV) peer-review rating. Since 2009, Virginia Business Magazine has named him to its Legal Elite in the Legislative, Regulatory, and Administrative Law category. Brian has also been recognized for his work in Richmond’s Jewish community, receiving the Jewish Community Federation of Richmond President’s Award in 2015 and the William B. Thalhimer Sr. Young Leadership Award in 2012.

• Professional Involvement

Brian is a member of the Energy Bar Association and the Richmond Bar Association and a former Chair of the Virginia State Bar Administrative Law Section. Deeply engaged in the Richmond community, he serves as the President of the Jewish Community Federation of Richmond. He previously served as president of Rudlin Torah Academy, Richmond’s Jewish day school, and has served on the boards of the Weinstein Jewish Community Center and Jewish Family Services of Richmond. He has been a board member and  Vice President of the Herb Cohen Memorial Fund for over 20 years, during which the fund provided hundreds of summer-camp scholarships for children.

• Experience

Having practiced before state utility commissions throughout the Mid-Atlantic for over 25 years, Brian  brings a practical understanding of how regulators, utilities, customers, and other stakeholders approach cost allocation, rate design, system reliability, and long-term investment. Along with his data center work, Brian represents natural gas and water utilities on regulatory strategy, rate matters, and asset transactions and has participated in transmission, generation, and rulemaking proceedings that shape the region’s energy markets. Brian was an early leader in competitive retail energy, helping draft regulations that opened electricity and natural gas markets in Maryland, the District of Columbia, and Delaware. That experience continues to inform his work with clients seeking practical, reliable, and cost-effective solutions in rapidly changing energy markets.

Andy Brownstein, Member | GreeneHurlocker, PLC

Andy Brownstein is a member of GreeneHurlocker whose practice focuses on business law, corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, real estate, and investment banking, with particular emphasis on energy transactions spanning early-stage project development, permitting, and capital markets, including tax equity financing. Drawing on a career built around an entrepreneurial client base, Andy counsels business clients and entrepreneurs through buy- and sell-side M&A, strategic financing and capital investments, joint ventures, credit facilities, commercial real estate investments, and contract matters.

• Education & Credentials

Andy earned both his J.D. (1994) and his B.A. (1989) at the University of Virginia. At the School of Law, he served on the editorial board of the Journal of Law and Politics and received the S. Phillip Heiner Memorial Scholarship; as an undergraduate, he double-majored in Economics and American Government and was a William H. Echols Scholar. He is admitted to practice in Virginia.

• Recognition & Leadership

Andy’s leadership has been widely recognized in the Richmond community. He received the Weinstein Jewish Community Center’s Bernstein Leadership Award (2010), as well as the Jewish Community Federation of Richmond’s Robert Reinhart Award (2010) and Young Leadership Award (2003), and was named to Inside Richmond Magazine’s Top 40 Under 40 (2001). He is a graduate of Leadership Metro Richmond (Class of 2004–2005) and a member of the VCU Real Estate Circle of Excellence.

• Professional Involvement

Andy has a lifelong commitment to community service and to Richmond’s Jewish community. He has served as Chairman of the Richmond Jewish Foundation, Chairman of the Virginia Small Business Financing Authority, and President of the Weinstein Jewish Community Center. His combination of legal, financial, and executive leadership roles gives him an unusually well-rounded perspective on the businesses and institutions he serves.

• Experience

Andy’s energy and data center practice supports developers and investors through the full project lifecycle—from early-stage development and permitting matters through the capital markets transactions that bring projects to financial close, including tax equity investments and related structuring—and he also advises on commercial real estate investments and general contract matters. His deep operating experience informs this counsel: Andy was a founder of Global Realty Services Group, where he served as General Counsel for a decade while also serving as its Chief Financial Officer (2009–2016) and as President of its affiliated title company (2013–2017). Before GRSG, he was Senior Vice President–International Services for LandAmerica Financial Group, after serving as SVP–Corporate Development. Earlier in his career, he served on the corporate finance team at McGuireWoods following law school and held positions with investment banking and private equity investment firms in both Richmond and New York.

SESSION 1 – Large-Load Tariffs, Rate-Case Intervention, and the 2026 Ratepayer-Protection Statutes | 12:00pm – 1:00pm

This session examines the wave of state ratepayer-protection statutes and tariff frameworks enacted in 2025–2026 that shift grid infrastructure costs from existing ratepayers to large-load customers such as data centers. Attorneys will learn how new mechanisms—separate rate classes, but-for cost standards, minimum demand guarantees, and long-term contract requirements—work in practice, and how to participate effectively in rate-case proceedings where these rules are being forged. Attendees will leave with a jurisdictional map of enacted and pending frameworks, a working understanding of the evidentiary standards now required, and practical tools for advising clients on either side of the cost-allocation dispute.

BREAK | 1:00pm – 1:10pm

SESSION 2 – Negotiating Electric Service Agreements for Data Centers and Large Loads | 1:10pm – 2:10pm

This session examines the current negotiating landscape for electric service agreements (ESAs) between data center developers and utilities, covering the emerging large-load rate archetype, state-level contract provisions, FERC interconnection and co-location requirements, and load flexibility as a bargaining lever. Attorneys will leave with a working understanding of the key contract terms — minimum commitment periods, exit fees, collateral requirements, standby charges, and cost-allocation structures — that now define large-load deals. The session also addresses the White House Ratepayer Protection Pledge, ongoing RTO compliance proceedings from the June 2026 FERC show cause orders, and how federal tax incentives flow through ESA pricing.