House Votes 417-3 to Shield Ratepayers From Data Center Costs

✓What's documented House vote recorded 417-3 on H.R. 9340, with bill text and roll call at Congress.gov; reporting draws on a ClearView Energy Partners client note and on-record statements from the bill's co-sponsor.

The U.S. House passed the Ratepayer Protection Act 417-3 on Sept. 16, requiring state utility regulators to consider, though not necessarily adopt, large-load cost standards that would make data centers over 100 MW cover the full incremental cost of grid upgrades they trigger. Analysts call the bill's practical effect limited since most states are already moving this direction through their own large-load tariffs, and it faces a compressed Senate calendar before the midterms. Utilities earn a regulated return on the infrastructure they build, so who pays for that buildout is the same cost question driving state-level fights from Virginia to Montana.

• Passed 417-3, the most lopsided vote of the 119th Congress on an AI-related bill; only Reps. Summer Lee, Delia Ramirez and Rashida Tlaib voted no, saying it doesn't go far enough.
• Bill amends PURPA to require state utility commissions to 'consider' large-load cost standards for 100 MW-plus data centers within one year and decide within two, but does not require adoption.
• States that already adopted comparable standards -- Virginia, Oregon, Ohio, Oklahoma -- are exempt from the new proceeding requirement.
• ClearView Energy Partners says the bill is unlikely to clear the Senate before the midterms and would 'largely reinforce' a shift already underway via state large-load tariffs.