HB 2014: The Power Generation and Consumption Act

What the law does

Creates certified microgrid districts

The state Department of Commerce can certify districts where a company generates and uses its own electricity instead of buying it from the local utility.Source: pv magazine, 5/19/2025

Removes local control

Counties and municipalities cannot adopt or enforce rules that limit microgrid districts or high-impact data centers. This includes zoning, noise, lighting, viewshed, and land use ordinances, as well as local building permits and code enforcement.Sources: The Real WV; WV Center on Budget & Policy

Removes utility oversight

Companies providing electricity inside a microgrid district are exempt from the Public Service Commission's authority over rates, service conditions, and customer complaints.Source: Charleston Gazette-Mail, 12/3/2025

Redirects property taxes

For a certified high-impact data center, the property tax is divided in two:

• Stays local, as before: tax at regular levy rates on the property'sbase value (its assessed value on July 1 of the year before certification), plus bond levies and excess levies (such as school excess levies), goes to the usual local levying bodies.
• Split under HB 2014: the tax increment, meaning regular levy taxes on the growth in value above that base, is divided as follows:

These rules apply from July 1, 2025, and the article expires December 31, 2055.Sources: Enrolled HB 2014, §11-6N-4(c) and §5B-2N-2a; GovTech; Charleston Gazette-Mail, 1/29/2026

Expands an earlier law

A 2022 law (SB 4001) allowed some microgrid districts but required their power to come from renewable sources and limited how many there could be. HB 2014 removed both the renewable requirement and the limit.Source: Charleston Gazette-Mail, 12/3/2025

What supporters say

Gov. Morrisey and the law's backers say it will make West Virginia the most attractive state in the country for data centers, bring investment and jobs, and help the United States compete with China in technology. The share of property taxes sent to the income tax fund is presented as a way to lower taxes for all West Virginians.Sources: West Virginia Watch, 4/30/2025; The Real WV

See also: The Plan, In Their Own Words

The impact on communities

Communities lose their say

A county can no longer use zoning to decide where a data center or power plant goes, how loud it can be, how it's lit at night, or how close it can be to homes, farms, schools, or rivers.

Less money stays local

Under a normal large development, the host county and its schools would receive most of the property tax. Under HB 2014, the host county keeps 30%. The West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy argues that redirecting locally levied taxes away from school districts is unconstitutional.Source: WV Center on Budget & Policy

Less protection for electricity customers

Opponents in the Legislature warned the law could raise electric rates, and the Public Service Commission has no authority over rates or complaints inside microgrid districts.Sources: West Virginia Watch, 4/30/2025; Charleston Gazette-Mail, 12/3/2025

Health and environmental concerns

Data centers and their power plants can use large amounts of water and electricity and create noise and light pollution. In Tucker County, a permit application for a planned microgrid power plant proposed gas turbines of a type linked to respiratory health problems elsewhere.Source: WV Center on Budget & Policy

The promised boom hasn't arrived

Nine months after the law passed, data center development in West Virginia had not accelerated, and the state still trailed Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Ohio.Source: GovTech

What has happened since

• Residents in Mason, Mingo, and Tucker counties have protested and filed legal challenges against data center projects.Source: Charleston Gazette-Mail, 1/29/2026
• In the 2026 session, lawmakers considered HB 4013, which would have given data centers and other large projects major new tax credits. It did not become law. A separate bill advanced rulemaking for data center certification, but concerns about local control, tax distribution, and siting were not addressed.Sources: WV Citizen Action Group session wrap-up; WV Center on Budget & Policy
• Critics, including the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy, are calling for HB 2014's repeal to restore local control.Source: West Virginia Watch commentary, 9/21/2026

How they voted

1. March 31, 2025: The House rejects an amendment by Del. Evan Hansen (D-Monongalia) that would have restored local control.Source: Charleston Gazette-Mail, 4/2/2025
2. April 1, 2025: The House passes HB 2014, 88–12.Source: West Virginia Watch, 4/1/2025
3. April 11, 2025: The Senate passes an amended version, 32–1, with 1 absent.Source: ObserverWV, 4/11/2025
4. April 12, 2025: The House passes the final version, 82–16, with 2 absent; the Senate concurs, 32–1, with 1 absent.Source: ObserverWV, 4/12/2025
5. April 30, 2025: Gov. Morrisey signs the bill.Source: West Virginia Watch, 4/30/2025

Legislators who voted for HB 2014 (final passage, April 12, 2025)

Find your district by address (the Legislature's interactive map), or see its district maps.

Sources

• West Virginia Watch, "Morrisey signs priority bill meant to incentivize data centers, microgrids locating in WV" (4/30/2025)
• The Real WV, bill signing coverage (5/1/2025)
• pv magazine USA (5/19/2025)
• WV Center on Budget & Policy, "Five Ways HB 2014 Harms Communities, Local Governments, and Schools" (7/15/2025)
• Charleston Gazette-Mail, rule comment coverage (12/3/2025)
• Charleston Gazette-Mail, HB 4013 coverage (1/29/2026)
• GovTech (1/29/2026)
• WV Center on Budget & Policy, HB 4013 analysis
• WV Citizen Action Group, 2026 session wrap-up
• Charleston Gazette-Mail, "WV House passes data centers bill feared to risk higher bills, ignore local input" (4/2/2025)
• West Virginia Watch, "WV House passes amended version of Morrisey's microgrid, data center bill sans requirements for coal" (4/1/2025)
• ObserverWV, "Senate Passes Data Center Bill After Changing Tax Distribution Formula" (4/11/2025)
• ObserverWV, "Data Center Microgrid Bill Passes WV House & Senate, To Governor For Signature" (4/12/2025)
• West Virginia Watch commentary (9/21/2026)
• Official enrolled bill text, WV Legislature