House Republican leadership confirmed the Ratepayer Protection Act will advance to a floor vote next week. The bipartisan bill would require data centers to pay for new power generation and transmission upgrades needed to handle their electricity demands, rather than shifting those costs to residential ratepayers.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee unanimously approved the measure 52-0 on Tuesday. Representatives Gabe Evans (R-CO) and Kathy Castor (D-FL) sponsored the legislation.
The move amounts to a direct response to voter anger over rising electricity bills. Affordability has become a central issue in primary elections, and GOP leaders are eager to show they are tackling the problem before the midterms. Data centers—massive facilities powering artificial intelligence and cloud computing—consume enormous amounts of electricity, and utilities have sought to pass infrastructure costs onto all ratepayers.
