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[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 10809 Introduced in House (IH)]
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119th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 10809
To amend the Federal Power Act to protect ratepayers from costs
relating to the electric loads of data centers and high-density
computing facilities.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
October 13, 2026
Mr. Vindman introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Energy and Commerce
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Federal Power Act to protect ratepayers from costs
relating to the electric loads of data centers and high-density
computing facilities.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Make Data Centers Pay Act''.
SEC. 2. RATEPAYER PROTECTION FOR DATA CENTER AND HIGH-DENSITY COMPUTING
LOAD.
Part II of the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 824 et seq.) is amended
by adding at the end the following:
``SEC. 224. RATEPAYER PROTECTION FOR DATA CENTER AND HIGH-DENSITY
COMPUTING LOAD.
``(a) Definitions.--In this section:
``(1) Commission.--The term `Commission' means the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission.
``(2) Covered load.--The term `covered load' means electric
load that--
``(A) is attributable to 1 or more data centers or
high-density computing facilities located at a single
site, or at multiple sites under common ownership or
control; and
``(B) equals or exceeds 20 megawatts or, in the
case of data centers or high-density computing
facilities developed in phases, is reasonably expected
to equal or exceed 20 megawatts at full buildout.
``(3) Data center or high-density computing facility.--
``(A) In general.--The term `data center or high-
density computing facility' means a facility, or group
of colocated facilities, the primary purpose of which
is to house computing, networking, or data storage
equipment used to process, store, or transmit digital
data, including equipment used for--
``(i) artificial intelligence training or
inference;
``(ii) cloud computing or data hosting; or
``(iii) cryptocurrency mining or other
distributed-ledger or digital-asset
computation.
``(B) Exclusion.--The term `data center or high-
density computing facility' does not include computing
or data storage equipment that is ancillary to a
facility the primary purpose of which is a commercial
or industrial activity other than an activity described
in subparagraph (A).
``(4) Incremental cost.--The term `incremental cost' means
the cost that would be avoided had a specific covered load not
been served by the electric utility, including all costs to
construct, own, and operate power generation or storage
resources and electric transmission and distribution services
associated with serving the covered load, based on costs
estimated by the electric utility at or around the time that
the covered load becomes operational and subject to approval by
the Commission or a State, as appropriate.
``(5) State.--The term `State' includes the applicable
State commission and any other State authority having
jurisdiction over retail electric service.
``(b) Ratepayer Protection Floor.--
``(1) No subsidy of covered load.--No portion of the
incremental cost may be allocated to, or recovered in the rates
of, any customer other than a covered load.
``(2) Surplus permitted.--Paragraph (1) does not limit the
authority of the Commission or a State, under any other
provision of law, to recover from covered loads amounts in
excess of incremental cost and to credit those amounts to other
customers as a rebate or a reduction to the utility costs that
are used as a basis for the calculation of customer rates.
``(3) Continuing recovery on exit.--A rate, charge, or
agreement for service to a covered load shall be designed to
recover from the covered load the full incremental cost of the
electric utility, and such recovery shall continue
notwithstanding the termination by the covered load of a
contract or other agreement pertaining to the sale of electric
energy, or the cessation by the covered load of the purchase of
electric energy, before that incremental cost has been fully
recovered.
``(4) Financial assurance.--Before constructing, or making
an upgrade to, a generation, transmission, or distribution
facility necessary to serve a covered load, an electric utility
shall require the covered load to provide financial assurances
or contributions sufficient to cover the cost of the facility
or upgrade, subject to the condition that any financial
assurances or contributions provided by the applicable covered
load to a public utility or Transmission Organization for the
same facility or upgrade shall be credited against the
requirement of this paragraph.
``(c) Rule of Construction.--Except as expressly provided in
subsection (b), nothing in this section expands or diminishes the
jurisdiction of the Commission or of any State, including State
authority over retail electric service, rate design, and resource
planning.
``(d) Applicability.--
``(1) Prospective application.--Subsection (b) applies to a
covered load that interconnects on or after the date of
enactment of this section.
``(2) Existing arrangements.--An arrangement to serve a
covered load that was approved by the Commission or by a State
before the date of enactment of this section shall remain in
effect.''.
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