U.S. Senate tanks bill meant to shield Americans from data center energy costs
The U.S. Senate rejected the Ratepayer Protection Act in a 57-43 vote, preventing the bill from advancing. The legislation was intended to protect electricity customers from paying for grid upgrades associated with large data centers, though opponents said it did not actually require data center owners to cover those costs.
The U.S. Senate voted 57-43 against advancing the Ratepayer Protection Act, effectively killing legislation that had passed the House nearly unanimously. The bill would have required state public utility commissioners to consider rules protecting ratepayers from electricity and grid-upgrade costs associated with data centers drawing more than 100 megawatts.
Republicans, including Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., characterized the measure as bipartisan ratepayer relief. Democrats opposed advancing it, arguing that the bill failed to require data center owners to pay for the infrastructure upgrades their facilities require. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., called the measure inadequate and said AI data centers should be directly responsible for those costs.