WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio, introduced the Ratepayer Protection Act to ensure American families and small businesses aren’t left paying for the energy infrastructure needed to support new data centers.

“If America wants to lead the world in AI and strengthen our national security, we have to build the energy infrastructure to support it. But we must do that without passing the costs on to working families and small businesses,” Husted said in a news release. “The Ratepayer Protection Act would keep America globally competitive while protecting Ohioans and Americans from higher electricity bills.”

The Ratepayer Protection Act would require states to consider establishing standards for states and public utility commissions when connecting large electricity users – such as data centers – to the grid. It would ensure those customers, not families nor small businesses, pay for the power generation, transmission lines and other infrastructure needed to serve their facilities, the release states.

U.S. Reps. Gabe Evans, R-Colo., and Kathy Castor, D-Fla., introduced the companion bill to the Ratepayer Protection Act in the U.S. House of Representatives.

“The Ratepayer Protection Act is a bipartisan, commonsense solution that protects everyday Americans and ensures our nation can continue to win the AI race,” Evans said.

If enacted, the bill would propose standards that state regulators could enforce when considering integrating new large-load customers with a demand of 100 megawatts or more onto the grid. Those recommendations include:

  • Recovery of full, incremental cost of upgrades by the large-load customer over a long period of time through a special rate charge or other agreements. This would protect utilities and their ratepayers from being left responsible for upgrade costs associated with a large-load customer, even if that customer later reduces operations or leaves the system entirely.
  • Financial assurances requiring the large load customer to pay for any generation, transmission or other infrastructure necessary to serve their load, protecting utilities and ratepayers from that financial burden. This would ensure large-load customers are responsible for the fixed costs associated with serving their demand rather than passing those costs on to families and businesses through higher monthly electricity bills.

“My neighbors across Florida are grappling with skyrocketing electric bills. Ratepayers should not have to subsidize wealthy corporations’ growing energy demands, especially from AI data centers,” Castor said. “The Ratepayer Protection Act safeguards consumers by ensuring these data centers pay for the energy and grid upgrades they need so hardworking families and local businesses are not stuck paying more.”