House tees up Ratepayer Protection Act for data center power costs

The House has posted the reported text of H.R. 9340, the Ratepayer Protection Act, for the week of 14 September 2026. The bill, 119th Congress, 2d Session, would amend section 111(d) of the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 to add a federal standard on how utilities recover the cost of serving large-load customers.

This is a reported House bill. It is not enacted law, not an EPA rule, and not a FERC order.

Rep. Gabe Evans (R-CO-8) and Rep. Kathy Castor (D-FL) introduced it on 18 June 2026. The House Committee on Energy and Commerce ordered it reported 52-0 on 21 July 2026.

The new PURPA standard would apply to a large-load customer: a non-residential consumer requesting or entering service for one or more facilities that primarily run information technology, data storage, or compute infrastructure, and that have a combined peak electric demand of 100 megawatts or more at a single site or campus. Rates would have to recover the full, incremental cost of generation, transmission, or distribution upgrades needed to serve that customer, including if the customer later terminates. Utilities would also have to take financial assurances or contributions so other ratepayers are not left paying for unused upgrades.

State regulators would consider and determine that standard under PURPA. The bill is not an automatic nationwide rewrite of household rates. States that already have a comparable standard, or that already held a proceeding or a legislative vote on one, get an off-ramp.

Speaker Mike Johnson's spokesperson Taylor Haulsee told Reuters on 10 September that the bill will be on the House floor next week. That calendar is the week of 14 September. A vote under suspension of the rules needs a two-thirds majority. The floor outcome is still open.

The same power-siting pressure sits behind Thailand's pause on 166 data-center projects and OpenAI's data-center leadership exit. Other Techpresso tape this week includes Roblox's standalone-app plan and the Amazon Air Miami runway overrun.

If you site or regulate a campus at or above 100 megawatts of peak demand, price the full incremental upgrade cost and the financial-assurance ask now, and treat the week of 14 September floor vote as the next gate, not as a change already in household rates.