Sponsors (23)
The bill aims to protect non‑data‑center customers and the grid while incentivizing cleaner on‑site resources by assigning data‑center‑related upgrade costs and standardizing interconnection rules — but it does so at the expense of higher costs for data centers (likely passed to end users), increased administrative complexity, potential project delays, and uneven competitive effects.
Residential and small‑business electricity customers are less likely to be charged for local grid upgrades triggered by data centers because the bill directs those upgrade costs to the data centers that cause them.
Utilities, grid operators, developers, and state regulators get clearer, more uniform federal rules, definitions (e.g., 50 MW threshold), and authorities to allocate interconnection costs and manage large data‑center requests, improving predictability for planning and investment.
Data centers that bring on‑site low/no‑carbon generation or qualifying battery storage and enter load‑flexibility agreements receive interconnection priority, incentivizing cleaner local power supply and supporting clean energy integration.
Data center owners face higher interconnection, on‑site resource, and tariff costs that are likely to be passed through to cloud customers and end users, raising prices for digital services and potentially increasing bills for some consumers.
Higher upfront charges, stricter queue rules, and possible interconnection delays could deter or slow data‑center projects, reducing near‑term local investment, construction jobs, and economic development in some communities.
Implementing the new cost‑allocation rules, rate classes, and interconnection standards will create substantial administrative burdens, regulatory disputes, and potential litigation for utilities, regulators, developers, and FERC, raising implementation costs.
Based on analysis of 8 sections of legislative text.
Requires regulators to make data centers pay for local grid upgrades, create a prioritized data‑center interconnection queue, push states to adopt data‑center retail rate classes, and fund technical assistance.
Introduced April 9, 2026 by Paul Tonko · Last progress April 9, 2026
Requires federal and state regulators to stop ratepayers from subsidizing large, new data center electricity demand by making data centers pay for the grid upgrades and costs they create, creating a special data-center interconnection queue that favors projects that bring low- or no‑carbon supply or on‑site storage and that meet labor standards, and by pushing states to consider data‑center‑specific retail rate classes. Directs FERC to issue rules and tariff changes on short statutory timelines, directs DOE to create grant and technical‑assistance programs, increases transparency about interconnection requests, and applies similar rules to large cryptocurrency‑mining facilities.