Updates with statement from Data Center Coalition in the fifth paragraph
A US House of Representatives subcommittee advanced a bill to make large-load power users such as data centers pay their own way when it comes to powering their projects, an effort to protect regular consumers from higher utility bills.
The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy approved the measure by voice vote Wednesday as part of a package of electricity bills, sending it to the full committee for further consideration. The bill would require developers of projects requiring 100MW of power or greater to cover the full cost of new power plants, transmission lines or other grid upgrades needed to serve their facilities.
The legislation, HR 9340, known as the Ratepayer Protection Act, was introduced by Rep. Gabe Evans (R-Colorado) and co-sponsored by Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Florida). The bipartisan bill largely mirrors President Donald Trump's ratepayer protection pledge, under which major technology companies, including Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Meta, agreed in March to ensure that the costs of powering new data centers, including grid upgrades, are not passed on to residential consumers.
Rep. Frank Pallone (D-New Jersey), the panel's top Democrat, noted the suite of bills — which also included measures to improve load forecasting, speed up generator interconnection, and expand transmission capacity — was a "useful first step", but he said more aggressive action was needed to "ensure that data center developers are held accountable and that consumers aren't left holding the bill."
An industry group representing data center developers endorsed the House measure. "We are committed to paying the full cost of the energy we use," Data Center Coalition (DCC) chief executive Josh Levi said in a statement. "DCC supports the approach taken by the Ratepayer Protection Act to achieve this goal and ensure the industry's energy costs are not shouldered by residents and businesses."
Manufacturing groups are pressing lawmakers to narrow the bill's scope, warning that its broad definition of "large-load customers" could sweep in energy-intensive industries well beyond data centers. In a letter to the committee, the Industrial Energy Consumers of America urged legislators to instead target "large computational load" users, arguing the current language risks raising costs and creating regulatory uncertainty for manufacturers that compete globally and are not driving recent spikes in electricity demand.
The measure now heads to the full Energy and Commerce Committee for consideration, where it could face further amendments before any potential consideration by entire House.
