US House supports bill on data center costs — CNBC — CNBC Top News
The US House of Representatives voted 417 to three in support of the bipartisan Ratepayer Protection Act, intended to prevent the costs of power infrastructure for artificial intelligence data centers from being passed on to consumers. The US Senate has not yet considered the initiative, CNBC Top News reports.
Energy infrastructure costs
The bill establishes standards that state regulators will be able to voluntarily apply to data centers with consumption of 100 megawatts or more. Such facilities may be required to independently pay for the construction of new energy sources, power transmission lines and other necessary infrastructure, rather than including these costs in other consumers’ bills.
The initiative was authored by Colorado Republican Gabe Evans, who introduced it in June together with Florida Democrat Kathy Castor. Evans said that companies creating new demand for electricity should bear the costs of meeting it.
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Broad support and criticism
The only opponents of the bill were progressive Democrats Summer Lee of Pennsylvania, Delia Ramirez of Illinois and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan. The vote was held under the suspension of the rules procedure, which is used for the expedited consideration of legislative initiatives without significant controversy and requires the support of two-thirds of the House of Representatives.
House Speaker Mike Johnson said after the vote that the bill should protect American families from rising electricity costs caused by the expansion of AI infrastructure. At the same time, environmental and anti-data-center organizations criticized the document. League of Conservation Voters representative Sara Chieffo stressed that state regulators may choose not to use the voluntary mechanisms to protect ratepayers. Food & Water Watch representative Mitch Jones said the document does not solve the problem and called for a complete pause in the construction of new AI data centers.
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries supported the bill, calling it a step forward, but added that further action is needed on artificial intelligence regulation.
