House to vote on bill to rein in AI data center utility costs
The bipartisan legislation would create a regulatory framework states could adopt to prevent data center-related energy costs from being passed on to consumers.
The US House of Representatives is set to vote on a bipartisan bill aimed at preventing households and small businesses from paying for the power infrastructure needed to support the country's rapidly expanding AI data center industry. The legislation, known as the Ratepayer Protection Act, would require states to consider rules ensuring that large data centers pay the full cost of new electricity generation, transmission and distribution upgrades needed to serve their facilities.
According to Newsweek, the bill, sponsored by Representative Gabe Evans, a Colorado Republican, would define large-load customers as data center facilities with peak electricity demand of 100 megawatts or more. The measure aims to prevent data center-related energy costs from being passed on to consumers.
The bill's supporters argue that consumers should not subsidize the energy needs of large technology companies. The legislation would create a regulatory framework for states to adopt, ensuring that utilities recover the full incremental cost of infrastructure upgrades from large-load customers.
Brief written by urgent.news from CNBC, Newsweek — 2 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
This story
This is one outlet's version. Read the fullest account.
