WASHINGTON - Congressman Gabe Evans and Congresswoman Kathy Castor introduced the bipartisan Ratepayer Protection Act to ensure American families are not left footing the bill for the grid upgrades and increased energy generation required to develop new data centers.

The Ratepayer Protection Act proposes standards for states and their Public Utility Commissions (PUC) when connecting large-load customers, such as data centers and hyperscalers, to the grid, to implement specific measures that ensure other community members do not pay for the related costs of building new power generation, transmission lines, and other upgrades that these customers require. When large load customers don't build, bring, or buy the energy and infrastructure they need to exist, utilities have to cover those costs in other ways, which many times pushes the costs down to ratepayers. Without this bill, families and small businesses in communities where data center development occurs could see higher electricity bills at the end of every month.

At a time when Americans are increasingly concerned about affordability and rising energy demand, the Ratepayer Protection Act codifies the principles behind the Ratepayer Protection Pledge, under which major technology companies committed to covering the full energy and infrastructure costs associated with new data center development. Many states have welcomed new data centers over the last decade, and many want to in the next decade. This bill gives states responsible solutions to both welcome competition and keep community members top of mind when considering opportunities for development.

"As America races to lead the world in AI, we must build the energy infrastructure needed to support this innovation, and stay ahead of competitors like Communist China. But Colorado families, farmers, and small businesses should not be forced to cover the costs of new power generation driven by these developments. The Ratepayer Protection Act is a bipartisan, commonsense solution that protects everyday Americans and ensures our nation can continue to win the AI race." - Congressman Gabe Evans (CO-08)

"My neighbors across Florida are grappling with skyrocketing electric bills. Ratepayers should not have to subsidize wealthy corporations' growing energy demands, especially from AI data centers. The Ratepayer Protection Act safeguards consumers by ensuring these data centers pay for the energy and grid upgrades they need so hardworking families and local businesses are not stuck paying more." - Ranking Member Kathy Castor (FL-14)

"Winning the AI race is essential to America's future, and that means building the power infrastructure needed to support it while still securing our grid. Families and small businesses across the country shouldn't be the ones to foot the bill for this new development. The Ratepayer Protection Act is a bipartisan effort which would ensure that the companies who are driving the demand for grid upgrades are the ones who are paying for it. Thank you to Congressman Evans for his leadership on this commonsense bill." - Congressman Brett Guthrie (KY-02), Chairman of the Committee on Energy and Commerce

"As the Chairman of the Energy Subcommittee, I am supportive of the Ratepayer Protection Act. This legislation would create a baseline standard so that Americans are protected from large rate increases due to data centers and other large load operations. I thank my colleague, Rep. Gabe Evans, for leading this timely legislation." - Congressman Bob Latta (OH-05), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Energy

Background

If enacted, the legislation would propose standards that state regulators could enforce when considering integrating new large-load customers with a demand of 100 megawatts or more onto the grid. Those recommendations include:

• Recovery of full, incremental cost of upgrades by the large-load customer over a long period of time through a special rate charge or other agreements. This protects utilities and their ratepayers from being left responsible for upgrade costs associated with a large-load customer, even if that customer later reduces operations or leaves the system entirely.

• Financial assurances requiring the large load customer to pay for any generation, transmission, or other infrastructure necessary to serve their load, protecting utilities and ratepayers from that financial burden. This ensures large-load customers are responsible for the fixed costs associated with serving their demand rather than passing those costs on to families and businesses through higher monthly electricity bills.

The Ratepayer Protection Act will be considered in the Energy and Commerce Committee's Energy Subcommittee markup Wednesday 6/24 at 2pm.

Read the full text here.