The House will vote on legislation this week that would give the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission sweeping new authority to keep so-called reliable energy sources on the nation’s power grid.
The consideration of Rep. Troy Balderson’s (R-Ohio) “Reliable Power Act,” H.R. 3616, and Rep. Morgan Griffith’s (R-Va.) “Power Plant Reliability Act of 2025,” H.R. 3632, marks the latest effort in a GOP campaign to bolster what they call “at-the-ready” generation — chiefly fossil fuels and nuclear.
Republican leaders have pushed several grid and energy bills in December as a direct response to surging electricity demand from artificial intelligence data centers and the resulting pressure on energy prices. They say Democrats have abandoned reliability in favor of an aggressive clean-energy agenda.
“We find ourselves in the middle of an electric reliability crisis that is threatening the integrity of our bulk power system and an affordability crisis that burdens households,” Energy and Commerce Chair Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) said on the House floor last week.
