The Business Equipment Tax Exemption is unavailable for property in a data center, or in a portion of a facility that is a data center, that begins operations on or after August 1, 2026. The exclusion also covers property that is part of a later expansion or project. This removes a property-tax exemption that might otherwise apply. The exclusion and its timing

A data center that begins operations on or after August 1, 2026, cannot qualify for Maine’s Dirigo business incentives program. For this rule, beginning operations requires installed operational computer and networking equipment and the performance of computing services; construction, site preparation, and equipment installation alone do not count. The data-center eligibility exclusion

The Dirigo program’s eligible sector for software publishing, data processing, and computer design services excludes services performed at a data center. This restriction has no start-date qualification in the provision. Services performed at a data center are excluded

The new Business Equipment Tax Exemption exclusion is limited to data centers or portions of facilities that begin operations on or after August 1, 2026. Thus, a center already operating before that date is not newly disqualified from the exemption by this provision; post-cutoff operations and covered expansion or project property are excluded. The cutoff and expansion limit

For a qualifying commercial or industrial site north of Chester, an entity’s exception from regulation as a transmission and distribution utility does not apply if more than 25% of its nameplate capacity serves data centers on that site. The exception otherwise concerns qualifying consumers at sites within ISO New England’s control area that were served without a public utility’s transmission and distribution plant before December 31, 2018. The exception does not apply above the 25% threshold.

At qualifying commercial or industrial sites in municipalities north of Chester, an entity may provide electricity to commercial or industrial consumers without using a public utility’s transmission and distribution plant, which can include data centers. The site must be within ISO-NE’s control area and have been served by the entity or its predecessor without that plant before December 31, 2018; data centers may use no more than 25% of the entity’s nameplate capacity. The exception does not apply if more than 25% of nameplate capacity serves data centers.