Senate Rejects Data Center Power Cost Bill

The Senate on Wednesday rejected a motion to advance the Ratepayer Protection Act, a bill sponsored by Sen. Jon Husted that would have asked state regulators to consider ways to make large electricity users cover grid-related costs. The measure received 57 votes in favor and 43 against, falling short of the 60 votes needed to proceed. Four Democratic senators - Maggie Hassan, Amy Klobuchar, Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock - voted with Republicans to advance the bill. The proposal had passed the House 417-3 earlier in September, but the Senate vote leaves it stalled. The bill would have directed state utility regulators to consider standards requiring large electricity users, including data centers, to pay for infrastructure costs associated with serving their power needs. Those costs can include upgrades to generation, transmission and the grid. The legislation would not itself have required regulators to adopt the standards or imposed a federal mandate on companies. That limited approach was central to Democrats’ opposition.