Washington, D.C. - Today, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued five show-cause orders to six regional grid operators throughout the United States following the public's input regarding how power grids across the country should manage rapidly growing demand for energy from large electricity customers (known as "large loads"), including data centers.

In October 2025, FERC issued an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to address the urgent concern of how large loads impact the grid. This process sought to solicit comments regarding how the grid should manage unprecedented energy demand seeking to interconnect to the grid,

Over the last year, Sierra Club members have been actively engaged in developing responsible solutions to address the challenges that large loads pose. Sierra Club collected over 4,000 comments on behalf of its members calling on four fundamental requirements for large load interconnections. These provisions highlighted how any large load interconnection policy must ensure:

1. The costs to power data centers should be paid for by data center owners, not residential ratepayers.
2. FERC should encourage policies to ensure that the lowest-cost energy technologies, including abundant, clean energy like solar, wind, battery power, and geothermal come online to match rising electric demand and ensure grid reliability.
3. State efforts to pursue environmental policies, especially around climate and clean energy, should not be undermined in the rush to power data centers.
4. Electric system design should prioritize all consumers, especially small residential consumers typically underrepresented in decision-making.

While the full orders have not yet been released, FERC's announcement at today's meeting is responsive to Sierra Club's requests on several fronts, including protecting consumers from any costs incurred by large loads, codifying reliability safeguards, increased transparency, and prioritizing grid efficiency. Many of the provisions shared today also pave the way for critical clean energy build-out, and offer opportunities for creative solutions to leverage low-cost clean energy for power needs.

In response, Sierra Club Senior Advisor Jessi Eidbo issued the following statement:

"As large loads like data centers reshape electricity demand, we're encouraged that FERC took public concerns seriously. More than 4,000 Sierra Club members urged FERC to protect households from higher electricity bills and safeguard the health of communities and the environment, and FERC took notice.

"While the details of compliance with these orders will yet require significant fine-tuning, we are energized that there is a clear path forward to adopt responsible large load interconnection policies that safeguard reliability, improve transparency, and embed affordability and ratepayer protections for American households. We look forward to continued advocacy in the RTOs that elevates Sierra Club's values as they finalize proposals for large load interconnection."

About the Sierra Club

The Sierra Club is America's largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit https://www.sierraclub.org.