Oracle faces $100M annual bill to back Wisconsin datacenter power promises

Oracle faces over $100 million a year in financing costs to guarantee power commitments for its nearly 1 GW Lighthouse Campus datacenter in Wisconsin, after the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin refused to revisit a decision requiring financial security. In an affidavit, Oracle said it would need to post a letter of credit exceeding $7 billion, at an annual cost that could exceed $100 million, to protect existing ratepayers from transmission cost shifting.

Oracle faces $100M annual bill to back Wisconsin datacenter power promises Source: The Register https://www.theregister.com Regulator refuses to budge on $7B guarantee for nearly 1 GW campus being developed with Vantage and OpenAI Oracle says that it could face more than $100 million a year in financing costs to guarantee the power commitments behind a nearly 1 GW datacenter campus it is developing in Wisconsin with Vantage and OpenAI /glossary/openai . Local regulators have refused to revisit a decision that they say protects existing customers and improves public transparency around the energy-related needs of datacenters. Oracle's plans to build the Lighthouse Campus datacenter in Port Washington are supported by local utility We Energies. The campus is expected to require nearly a gigawatt of power. The Public Service Commission PSC of Wisconsin, an energy regulator, told the Financial Times it had "declined to take action" on a petition seeking to reopen or overturn its earlier decision. In April, the PSC considered We Energies' application for Very Large Customer VLC and Bespoke Resources Tariff status around the datacenter. Among the modifications to improve the tariff was a revision "to address the risk of transmission cost shifting from dataCenter customers to existing customers." In an affidavit supporting the joint petition to reopen or rehear the decision, Oracle explained that if the decision was not modified, it would have to post security in a cash deposit or a letter of credit. "Based on our current projections, we anticipate that, under the current mandated requirements, we will ultimately be required to post financial security, likely in the form of a letter of credit in an amount exceeding $7 billion, at an annual cost that could exceed $100 million," the document said. To qualify for an exemption, Oracle would have to meet several tests, including maintaining ratings of at least A- from S&P and A3 from Moody's. At the time of the PSC decision, S&P rated Oracle BBB, but downgraded it to BBB- earlier this month. "We estimate that OpenAI makes up roughly half of the $638 billion in Oracle's remaining performance obligations RPO ," S&P said. "OpenAI's ability to meet its contractual obligations and raise external financing will be contingent upon AI tailwinds continuing and its models being market leaders. If OpenAI were unable to pay Oracle, we believe Oracle could be left with massive datacenter leases that it might be unable to exit or have to re-lease to new tenants under less-favorable terms." In its affidavit, Oracle said that it had increased its committed credit line to $10 billion, provided by a syndicate of banks including Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase. In a statement, an Oracle spokesperson said: "Oracle remains committed to paying its full share for energy and providing the financial guarantees needed to ensure there is no risk to Wisconsin ratepayers." The spokesperson said the utility company's proposal provides collateral equal to 100 percent of Oracle's contractual obligations and reflects an industry-leading mix of collateral sources based on Oracle's strong credit standing. "The Port Washington datacenter is being developed responsibly in partnership with the community, creating thousands of jobs, strengthening local businesses, and driving long-term economic growth across Wisconsin," they said. "We are hopeful that the commission will reconsider their position in light of these facts, as we believe our proposal strikes the right balance between paying our way, protecting ratepayers, and ensuring there is still a commercially reasonable path to investment in the state of Wisconsin." In September last year, Oracle's valuation rocketed after it boasted $455 billion in RPOs, $300 billion of which turned out to be for OpenAI. In the period since, Oracle has raised debt to fund its datacenter building program and has negative free cash flow. S&P said Oracle's capex guidance had risen to between $90 billion and $95 billion for fiscal 2027, which started in June, up from an earlier forecast of $60 billion. For the same period, S&P forecasts negative free operating cash flow of $42 billion, worse than its previous estimate of negative $24 billion. ®Get AI news in your inbox Daily digest of what matters in AI.