Ratepayer Protection Act Should Apply to All Large Electricity Users, Not Just Data Centers, Says Center for Data Innovation

WASHINGTON—In response to the House’s 417-3 passage of the Ratepayer Protection Act, which now heads to the Senate, the Center for Data Innovation released the following statement from Associate Director of AI Policy Michelle Lopes Maldonado:

The Ratepayer Protection Act gets the core principle right: large electricity consumers of 100 megawatts or more should pay for any associated infrastructure upgrades, ensuring those costs do not spill over to other ratepayers.

However, the revised bill only applies to data centers. A steel mill, semiconductor fab, or chemical refinery consuming 100 MW of power would create the same grid demand but be treated differently.

Congress should apply the standard uniformly to any customer at 100 MW or more, establishing a separate rate class for these large electricity users. This preserves the cost-recovery principle while eliminating sectoral favoritism and ensuring residential users are not left paying the bill.

To put it simply: If a customer creates the cost, that customer should pay the cost—regardless of what industry it happens to be in.

Contact: Nicole Hinojosa, [email protected]