Whether power reimbursement in a data center fund's distribution counts as real yield depends on the contract

Fund summaries for data center holdings often quote a distribution figure that includes a line called power and infrastructure reimbursement, which is typically the tenant paying back the cost of electricity the ownership entity bought on their behalf. When that pass-through is exactly matched, money in equals money out to the utility, so it is not income, it is a reimbursement flowing through, and including it in the top line makes the fund look larger than the economics it actually delivers to an investor. But these arrangements are not always exactly matched. An owner sometimes buys power under a contract and rebills at a rate with a margin, or holds capacity it can rebill at a better price than it pays, in which case there is a real spread and stripping the line out understates what the asset earns. The reverse risk also exists, where the owner is on the hook for a price it cannot fully pass on, which makes that line a place a loss can hide. Telling which situation applies from a summary document alone is usually not possible. The way to know is to ask the sponsor directly whether the power line is billed at cost or with a margin, and to request the underlying utility contract or at least its pricing terms, rather than either trusting the reported number or discounting it by default.