House votes on data center utility cost bill as backers say they have support to pass it
The Ratepayer Protection Act would let state regulators weigh whether data centers should pay the extra grid costs they create.
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The US House was voting Wednesday on a bill that would push state utility regulators to consider whether large electricity users, including data centers, should shoulder the added infrastructure costs their power demand creates. Backers of the bill said they had the votes to pass it, according to Reuters.
The bill, called the Ratepayer Protection Act, was introduced by Representative Kathy Castor, a Florida Democrat, and Representative Gabe Evans, a Colorado Republican, Reuters reported. It has 41 co-sponsors and cleared the House Energy and Commerce Committee unanimously earlier this year, according to the Washington Examiner.
Even if it passes the House, the bill's path to President Trump's desk this Congress is uncertain. A companion measure from Senator John Husted, an Ohio Republican, has not advanced in the Senate, which has about three weeks left before its pre-election recess, the Washington Examiner reported. Both Castor and Evans face competitive reelection races this fall, according to the Washington Examiner.
Passage would move the bill's guardrails from proposal to enacted House text, keeping regulatory attention on hyperscaler power costs as data center growth draws scrutiny ahead of the 2026 midterms. But the bill would only let states adopt optional guardrails rather than impose new mandates, since states and localities keep primary authority over individual projects. That leaves near-term data center capital spending plans largely unchanged for now.