Washington: data centers & your electric bill
The numbers residents cite at hearings — grid, water, and regulator contacts for Washington, from the free GridWatch toolkit.
Subscribe by RSS — moratorium changes and community headlines for Washington.
As of July 2026 · changes over months · Source: U.S. Data Center Power Map by State — ElectricChoice.com compilation (updated July 2026; CC-BY 4.0). Underlying load research: LBNL 2024 US Data Center Energy Usage Report; rates: EIA
Facility counts vary by directory because each one draws the boundary differently — DataCenterMap lists 44 in Alabama where this table says 35, since it counts small network rooms alongside hyperscale campuses. Cite the TWh figure rather than the facility count when you can; it is the number that speaks to grid impact. Underlying load research is LBNL-2001637 (Dec 2024).
Your regulator
Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission — website · file a complaint
Official state energy data: EIA Washington electricity profile — generation, prices, and consumption from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Pushback already happening in Washington
| Where | Level | Status | Note | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spokane | Local | Enactedexpires 2027-06-23 | Ordinance C36887, passed 6-1 as an emergency measure: 1-year citywide pause on building permits for new data centers. Followed news that Avista had been approached about a 500 MW facility | Source read 2026-08-04 |
| Seattle | Local | Enactedexpires 2027-06-09 | Emergency ordinance passed 9-0; 1 year, facilities over 20 MVA, extendable about six months | Source read 2026-08-04 |
| Yakima County | Local | Enacted | 6-month moratorium in unincorporated areas, unanimous. Studying economic, health, agricultural, and water impacts | Source read 2026-08-13 |
| Snohomish County | Local | Enactedexpires 2026-12-24 | 6-month emergency zoning moratorium on new data-center development in unincorporated Snohomish County, adopted unanimously so the council can craft a permanent policy. | Source read 2026-08-12 |
| Federal Way | Local | Enactedexpires 2027-07-07 | 12-month moratorium, unanimous. Studying impact on former Weyerhaeuser campus. Public hearing set Sep 1 | Source read 2026-08-13 |
| Burien | Local | Enactedexpires 2027-06-29 | 12-month emergency moratorium, unanimous, effective immediately | Source read 2026-08-13 |
| Marysville | Local | Enacted | 6-month moratorium on buildings/facilities whose principal use is data management/transmission, unanimous. Mayor urged surrounding counties to follow suit | Source read 2026-08-13 |
| Skagit County | Local | Enactedexpires 2026-12-01 | 6-month moratorium in rural/unincorporated areas on data centers >2,000 sq ft or >2 MW. Planning Commission advancing code changes to make it permanent. Farmland and water protection | Source read 2026-08-13 |
| Pasco | Local | Enacted | 6-month moratorium, 6-0. Extendable if officials don't have satisfactory answers. Developing data-center-specific land-use regulations | Source read 2026-08-13 |
| Cle Elum | Local | Enactedexpires 2027-01-31 | 6-month moratorium, unanimous. Prompted by Blue Fern Development's 20 MW / 100,000 sq ft plan within Bullfrog Flats community near I-90. Site may be exempt via preexisting development agreement | Source read 2026-08-13 |
| Renton | Local | Proposed | City council set AI data center moratorium in motion; process initiated but may not be finalized | Source read 2026-08-13 |
| Kittitas County | Local | Proposed | Commissioners reviewing proposed emergency 6-month moratorium. Follows Cle Elum ban. Concerns: energy, water, transportation, noise, lighting, agricultural compatibility | Source read 2026-08-13 |
As of August 2026 · changes weekly — re-check before citing
Illustrative rather than exhaustive — dozens of localities churn weekly, and this tracks the ones we have read a source for. **Each row carries its own provenance.** Rows showing a verification date link to the ordinance, the enacting body's own page, or a datable report of the vote, and were read on that date. Rows marked *unverified* came from bulk compilation and have not been checked against a primary source — the locality, the year, and the status may all be off. Verify one of those with the town clerk before citing it as precedent. **Expiry is derived, not asserted.** A row with a documented end date flips to *Expired* on its own once that date passes. A time-limited moratorium whose start date was never documented keeps showing as enacted — that is a known gap, not a claim that it is still in force. Moratoriums are also routinely extended, so an expiry date is the earliest it could have ended, not proof that it did.
Known data center campuses in Washington
| Operator | Location | Tenant | Filing LLC |
|---|---|---|---|
| Microsoft | Quincy (Central Washington) | Microsoft | Project-name / generic 'Holdings LLC'; less consistently codenamed |
⏳ No verification date recorded · changes over months · Source: Operator ownership & filing-LLC naming patterns — compiled from operator releases and county filings, then checked against SEC EDGAR full-text search. Composite, not a single citation: look the entity up yourself before naming it in a filing
Each row carries its own attribution level — first-party rows come from the operator's own site, but colocation and REIT ownership was compiled from trade press and never passed an independent fact-check. Check the attribution column before citing a row.
Every data center already built in Washington
The campuses above are the ones GridWatch tracks by operator and filing LLC. For the full inventory — street addresses of every existing facility, including the smaller colocation and network sites — DataCenterMap keeps a public directory for Washington.
Browse the Washington directory →
Two caveats before you cite it at a hearing: it lists facilities that already exist, so a newly proposed campus will not appear; and it counts a small network room the same as a hyperscale campus, so the facility count is not a measure of power draw or community impact.
Latest Washington data center news
No Washington data-center headlines in this week's national scan — local coverage often runs ahead of it.
Search live Washington data center news → GridWatch news feed →
Video coverage mentioning Washington
State municipal league: Association of Washington Cities
A data center was proposed near you?
The free toolkit walks you through it in five steps: who's really behind the LLC, what it costs your community, what to do this week, and a downloadable action pack — speech, letters, flyer, and CBA targets included.