US House to vote on data center power cost bill

Sept. 16 (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote as soon as Wednesday on bipartisan legislation that seeks to rein in electricity bill increases tied to the expansion of data centers that support artificial intelligence.

The vote comes as government officials nationwide are under pressure to take steps to prevent the soaring cost of data center power needs from being passed on to average households.

The Ratepayer Protection Act would require state utility regulators to consider whether large electricity users, including data centers, should bear the incremental costs of the power infrastructure needed to serve them. It was introduced by Representative Kathy Castor, a Democrat from Florida, and Gabe Evans, a Colorado Republican.

The bill has bipartisan backing and is expected to pass the House, an uncommon point of agreement in Congress as policymakers seek ways to balance economic growth, grid reliability and consumer affordability ahead of the midterm elections in November.

U.S. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, at a press conference this week, gave his blessing to the bill. He called it an "appropriate step forward" but added that "more clearly needs to be done."

Former Federal Energy Regulatory Commission member Allison Clements said the measure was not transformative, but sent an important message.

"This particular ratepayer bill is really one relatively modest step in the right direction," Clements said. "It holds value in that it's signaling, should it pass on a bipartisan basis, that Congress continues to be aligned with the priorities of protecting customers in the face of all of this new needed investment and demand growth."

Environmental group Food & Water Watch, which favors a nationwide pause on new data center development, said the legislation focuses narrowly on electricity costs while failing to address broader concerns about data centers' impacts on water resources, pollution and communities.