Evans, Dean Press for Answers, Transparency on Data Centers

PHILADELPHIA (May 28, 2026) - U.S. Reps. Dwight Evans (D-PA-3) and Madeleine Dean (D-PA-4) are pressing federal electricity regulators for answers and transparency about data centers.

Today, Evans and Dean sent a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission seeking information on how the agency is overseeing the increased power demand from data centers, especially with respect to reliability of the electrical grid and costs that may be passed on to home consumers. They also requested information on how the Trump-Vance administration's decision to cancel 223 clean-energy projects could impact transmission planning and delivering electricity to consumers due to changes in energy supply.

"We encourage FERC to continue providing transparency in its decisions on transmission and infrastructure policies as the demand to connect to the grid grows," the lawmakers said. "As members who are increasingly concerned with affordability and grid reliability, we look forward to receiving your prompt responses."

Evans and Dean requested responses by June 30.

The full text of the letter follows:

Dear Chairman Swett and Commissioners Rosner, LaCerte, See, and Chang:

We write this letter expressing interest in the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's (FERC) plans to address domestic grid reliability, affordability, and future planning opportunities. This comes during a time when lawmakers are being asked to address real constraints in American energy markets and grid reliability. We encourage FERC to continue providing transparency in its decisions on transmission and infrastructure policies as the demand to connect to the grid grows.

There is an increasing presence of data centers, and questions of how, when, and where they will connect to the grid. Our concerns about the future of data centers and their energy demand impacting interstate transmission capacity not only include realistic assessments of load interconnection projects that will be added to the grid but also fluctuating load cycles destabilizing the grid. This is in addition to concerns about the environmental impact, including air quality and water consumption, community input, long-term planning, and the inclusion of distributed energy resources (DERs) in any future buildout.

The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) published [1] a Level 3 Essential Action Alert highlighting reliability concerns arising from new computational loads - such as data centers, artificial intelligence compute clusters, and cryptocurrency facilities - interacting with the bulk power system (BPS). The alert highlights 7 advisory actions that transmission planners, owners, coordinators, and operators should consider, and encourages their adoption to support reliability standards and address emerging challenges.

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's lawmakers and policy leaders have also acted in recent weeks. Governor Josh Shapiro sent a letter [2] to utility companies describing the criteria his administration will consider justifiable in future rate-making cases. This was in addition to the governor stating that utilities should seek the most cost-effective forms of capital, provide plain and clear language in investment proposals with cost/benefit analyses and transparent data, and offer clear, justifiable equity returns. Separately, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives unanimously passed H.B. 2223 [3], which would require a utility to evaluate and consider integrating advanced transmission technologies (ATTs) before building costly new infrastructure.

Considering these actions, we have included questions that we would like a response to no later than June 30, 2026:

1. Given that transmission costs can be passed through to customers, are there oversight or implementation issues that FERC has encountered with orders that encourage prior consideration and integration of ATTs and grid-enhancing technologies (GETs) to maximize cost-savings opportunities? Are there any existing FERC regulations that are biased against ATTs or GETs? Has FERC considered how developments in generation technologies, such as DERs and virtual power plants, could improve transmission utilization on the consumer side through improved real-time data sharing or reduce transmission congestion?
2. Has FERC assessed the implications of NERC's alert and the need to establish reliability standards to protect from new, large load connections on the BPS? To what extent is FERC considering using its authority to establish processes that would encourage transmission owners and operators to conduct reliability studies and gap assessments, enhance communication coordination to improve operational awareness, integrate technology to model BPS system failure impact depending on the stage/cycle of the computational load, and produce risk mitigation assessments with real-time response monitoring?
3. The Department of Energy terminated 321 financial awards for 223 energy projects [4]. If transmission planning accounts for new supply plans over a 20-year cycle, and there are uncertainties and risks on the supply side with power plant development, has FERC considered the extent to which transmission planning directives from Order No. 1920 and 1920-A may be challenging? Additionally, there has been a change in commissioners since Order No. 1920 and 1920-A were approved. Given this change in leadership, how do you anticipate that these orders will address affordability concerns?

Thank you for your attention to this matter. As members who are increasingly concerned with affordability and grid reliability, we look forward to receiving your prompt responses.

[1] North American Electric Reliability Corporation. (2026, May 4). NERC issues level 3 alert, reliability guideline focused on large load challenges. https://www.nerc.com/newsroom/nerc-issues-level-3-alert-reliability-guideline-focused-on-large-load-challenges.

[2] Shapiro, J. (2026, April 29). Letter to utility leaders. Latitude Media. https://www.latitudemedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/2026.4.29-JDS-Utility-CEOs-letter-v2.pdf.

[3] House Bill 2223, 2025-2026 Session (2026). https://www.palegis.us/legislation/bills/text/PDF/2025/0/HB2223/PN3321.

[4] Department of Energy. (2025, October 1). Energy Department announces termination of 223 projects, saving over $7.5 billion.https://www.energy.gov/articles/energy-department-announces-termination-223-projects-saving-over-75-billion

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