Japan's Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) announces measures to counter data centers booking capacity without firm development plans ('capacity squatters') amid AI data center demand surge.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. Holdings is among Japanese utilities tightening rules on electricity for data centers to counter a trend of operators "capacity squatting"—reserving power capacity that ends up being underutilized.

Japanese utilities and authorities are grappling with massive power demand for data center projects that are often delayed, moved to different locations, or consume less capacity than originally agreed upon. The new rules aim to prevent the stranded capacity that results when operators reserve significant power allocations but fail to fully deploy them.