A new bill seeks to ensure that data centers in the United States pay the full cost of the electricity they consume.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee unanimously advanced the bipartisan Ratepayer Protection Act. The legislation would create federal guidance for state regulators when they evaluate extremely large new electricity customers. It would apply to facilities that require at least 100 megawatts of power, a threshold that covers many large artificial-intelligence data centers.
Under the proposal, data-center operators could be required to offer financial guarantees that cover the cost of new power generation, transmission lines, and related infrastructure needed to serve them. They could also be subject to special electricity rates designed to protect existing customers from bearing the expense of grid upgrades if a data center later scales back operations or abandons a project.
The rapid growth of artificial intelligence has produced unprecedented demand for electricity. Data centers also use substantial volumes of water to cool their servers, raising concerns about higher utility bills, water shortages, noise, and pollution in surrounding communities.
Supporters of the bill argue that the United States must expand its energy infrastructure to stay competitive in artificial intelligence, yet ordinary households should not be forced to subsidize the expansion of some of the world’s wealthiest technology companies. Industry representatives counter that data-center operators are already investing hundreds of billions of dollars in the United States and remain committed to covering the full cost of the energy they consume.
Some environmental organizations oppose the legislation, contending that it does not adequately address water use, fossil-fuel pollution, or rising electricity rates. The bill arrives amid mounting local resistance to data-center construction across the country.
A Gallup poll found that 71 percent of Americans would oppose the construction of a data center in their community, while only 27 percent would support one. More than 525,000 people have reportedly joined local opposition groups in at least 40 states. More than 3,000 data centers already operate in the United States, and over 1,500 additional facilities are in various stages of planning or construction.
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