The House Energy and Commerce Committee will take initial steps this week to advance legislation that would make sure ratepayers don’t foot the bill for data center expansion along with measures to address the need to transmit more power across the country to meet rising demand.
The Energy Subcommittee, chaired by Rep. Bob Latta (R-Ohio), will vote on a suite of bills including the bipartisan “Ratepayer Protection Act” on Wednesday as part of an electricity policy focused markup, the details of which were shared first with POLITICO.
That headlining bill would codify the principle behind President Donald Trump’s “Ratepayer Protection Pledge,” where Big Tech companies committed to covering their own data center energy costs.
Together, the action marks the first time Republican leaders have rallied around concrete proposals to address electricity rate hikes tied to surging data center demand.
“This markup will give us the opportunity to advance bipartisan legislation to modernize our grid and lower costs for hardworking American families,” Energy and Commerce Chair Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) said in a statement.
“America must win the race for AI dominance with China, and these bills provide commonsense solutions to ensure we have accurate data on electricity demand, support for cost-effective technologies to improve and expand our grid, and protect ratepayers from higher electricity prices that could potentially result from greater electricity demand for AI infrastructure.”
Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.), ranking member of the Energy Subcommittee who co-sponsored the ratepayer protection bill, said the movement by Republicans is reflective of “populist anger” they are hearing from constituents.
“It’s been a wake-up call for them,” Castor told POLITICO. “The public is up in arms. It doesn’t matter how people are registered at home, Republican, Democrat, Independent, they are very skeptical, and they’re very wary of paying any more for electricity.”
Other bills to be included in the markup include:
- The “Protecting Families from AI Data Center Energy Costs Act,” H.R. 6529, from Rep. Greg Landsman (D-Ohio), which would require the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to hold a conference with major stakeholders on how to protect residents from increased costs.
- The “Load Forecasting Enhancement Act,” H.R. 9332, from Rep. Troy Balderson (R-Ohio), which would require FERC to study electricity demand forecasting.
- The “Affordable Innovation for the Grid Act,” H.R. 9339, from Rep. Diana Harshbarger (R-Tenn.), which would direct federal authorities to study using artificial intelligence and high-performance computing to modernize the power grid.
- The “Advanced Transmission Technology to Reduce Rates Act,” H.R. 9335, from Rep. Craig Goldman (R-Texas), which would direct the Department of Energy to establish a publicly available clearinghouse and provide technical assistance to promote the use of advanced grid technologies.
- The “High-Capacity Grid Act,” H.R. 6633, from Rep. Julie Fedorchak (R-N.D.), which would direct FERC to establish a best-available transmission conductor standard for new interstate transmission lines and rebuilds.
The markup comes after FERC issued highly anticipated orders Thursday requiring power grid operators to show they can keep utilities and artificial intelligence companies from shifting data center costs to ratepayers. And it comes as Senate leaders are negotiating grid upgrades as part of comprehensive permitting reform negotiations.
House Republicans continue to resist Democratic demands to give the federal government more power to approve, plan and coordinate transmission lines, and the bills in the markup are much more modest.
Still, Senate negotiators said they welcomed Guthrie’s involvement on the issue, which included his decision to hold a long-awaited hearing last month on ways to boost transmission.
“We know that we need it to get a bipartisan deal here,” Environment and Public Works Chair Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) said. “Anything that they [House Republicans] can bring forward would probably be helpful. He [Guthrie] just has a lot of resistance to manage.”
Schedule: The markup is Wednesday, June 25, at 2 p.m. in 2123 Rayburn and via webcast.
Nico Portuondo contributed to this story.
