Congressman Gabe Evans’ Bipartisan Ratepayer Protection Act Passes the House
WASHINGTON — Today, Congressman Gabe Evans’ bipartisan Ratepayer Protection Act passed the U.S. House of Representatives by an overwhelming vote of 417-3, advancing legislation designed to protect American families and small businesses from bearing the infrastructure costs created by large data centers.
The bill requires that large energy load data centers be responsible for the costs of all new energy infrastructure necessary to serve them. This protects existing ratepayers from having costs shifted to them. The bill also requires that states which currently have no standards specific to data centers are to commence hearings and make state-specific determinations for large-load data centers.”
The House passage follows unanimous approval by the House Energy and Commerce Committee in July, where the bill advanced 52–0.
“Hardworking families should not have to subsidize the energy demands of data centers. America needs the infrastructure to lead the world in AI and outcompete Communist China, but we cannot have that growth at the expense of hardworking families, farmers, seniors, and small businesses. My bipartisan Ratepayer Protection Act ensures large data centers pay for the infrastructure they require while giving states the flexibility to determine what works best for their communities. I’m incredibly proud to lead the charge on this pivotal issue, ensure our ratepayers are protected, and keep American innovation moving forward.” –– Congressman Gabe Evans
“Floridians are already dealing with sky-high electric bills. They should not be forced to subsidize the enormous energy demands of the world’s richest corporations. If Big Tech builds a massive AI data center, Big Tech—not hardworking families, farmers or small businesses—should pay for the power and grid upgrades it requires. The bipartisan Ratepayer Protection Act is an important first step that can help lower costs for our neighbors back home and empower states to set additional, strict guardrails.” –– Congresswoman Kathy Castor
“When done responsibly, data center development leads to longer term investments and broader infrastructure improvements in the communities where they’re built. The Ratepayer Protection Act helps to safeguard these benefits by ensuring that the companies who are building data centers—and not American families and small businesses—are paying for the electricity they use. U.S. leadership in the race to AI dominance is critical to our economic prosperity and national security, so we need to keep building the needed infrastructure with appropriate accountability measures. I'm grateful to Congressman Evans for his tireless work—on a bipartisan basis—to protect ratepayers while ensuring that America continues to lead the world in innovation.” –– Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie
Background
If enacted, the legislation would establish federal standards for state regulators to use when reviewing proposals for new large-load customers with an electricity demand of 100 megawatts or more. The bill suggests:
Recovering the full incremental cost of grid upgrades from the large-load customer through special rate structures or other agreements, ensuring utilities and regular ratepayers are not left paying for infrastructure if a customer later scales back operations or leaves the system.
Requiring financial assurances that large-load customers will pay for the generation, transmission, and other infrastructure necessary to serve their demand, preventing those costs from being shifted onto families and local businesses through higher electricity rates.
The legislation preserves state flexibility by requiring regulators to consider the large-load standard without mandating one specific rate structure. States would retain the authority to determine how the standard should apply within their own utility systems.
The Ratepayer Protection Act builds on the principles of the Ratepayer Protection Pledge, under which major technology companies, utilities, and governors committed to having data center developers pay the energy and infrastructure costs associated with new data center development.
The bill now heads to the Senate for consideration. Sen. Husted (R-OH) is leading the Senate companion.
Read the full text here.
Read the one pager here.
Read Congressman Evans' op-ed on Protecting Ratepayers While Powering America’s Future here.