Data center bills: what are the different proposals?

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As of October 27, 2026, none of these nine bills is law. Four have passed the House. One of those, H.R. 9340, is on the Senate calendar. The other three House-passed bills are in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. The remaining five have only been referred to committee.

The bills take different approaches. Four deal with grid upgrade and connection costs for large power users. Two deal with information. Three deal with grid capacity and planning. This page uses only the bill texts and official congressional records. It does not establish how much any household's electricity bill would change.

1. What costs are addressed?

Four bills deal with grid upgrade and connection costs for large power users: H.R. 9340, S. 5199, S. 5653 and H.R. 10809.

• H.R. 9340 would set out a rate standard. A large data center customer would cover the full added cost of generation, transmission or distribution upgrades needed to serve it.
• S. 5199 splits costs in two. Large customers would pay the full cost of equipment built just to connect them to interstate lines. Wider network upgrades would be assigned to them, then credited back against their transmission charges.
• Under S. 5653 and H.R. 10809, the added cost of serving a large data center could not be charged to customers outside that large-user group. That would apply only to new connections, within limits each bill sets.

Two bills deal with information.

• S. 5640 would require federal reports on large data centers' energy use, including how household energy bills may have changed. The bill does not ask the reports to say what caused a change.
• S. 5645 would let governments ask about a proposed data center. The information could include expected upgrade costs and who is expected to pay.

Three bills deal with grid capacity and planning: H.R. 6633, H.R. 9332 and H.R. 9339. H.R. 9339 does not address who pays for data center grid costs.

2. Who decides?

• H.R. 9340 would require state regulators, and utilities that set their own rates, to consider the standard, but not to adopt it. States could skip that step if they had already adopted, considered, or voted on a similar standard.
• S. 5199 would have the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issue a final rule within a year.
• S. 5653 and H.R. 10809 would put the cost rule straight into federal law, as a requirement. S. 5653 also says states may charge these users more and use the extra to lower other customers' rates.
• H.R. 6633 would give FERC a role in its wire requirement.
• Under S. 5645, state, local and tribal governments could ask the Energy Department for technical information. The department could not recommend approving or rejecting a project.

3. Who is covered?

Each bill draws its own line.

• H.R. 9340 covers data center customers with peak demand of 100 megawatts or more at one site or campus. It would count only power agreements made or requested after it becomes law, for facilities mainly used for data storage and computing.
• S. 5199 covers new or expanded loads of 150 megawatts or more. Power moved entirely within Texas's main grid, ERCOT, is excluded.
• The cost rules in S. 5653 and H.R. 10809 start at 20 megawatts, for new connections only. Sites under common ownership or control can count together. Other parts of S. 5653 work differently.
• S. 5640 uses the words "50 megawatts each day." The text does not make clear how that is measured, so we do not compare it with the others.

The nine bills

Latest actions are as of October 27, 2026.

H.R. 9340, Ratepayer Protection Act

• Sponsor: Rep. Gabe Evans (R-CO-8). House bill.
• Latest action: September 30, 2026. Motion to proceed to consideration withdrawn in the Senate. Earlier that day, a vote to limit debate on the motion to proceed was not invoked, 57 to 43, with 60 needed. That was a procedural vote about taking up the bill, not a vote rejecting it. The bill passed the House 417 to 3 on September 16 and is on the Senate calendar (Calendar No. 684).
• What the text changes: it would add a federal standard that state regulators, and utilities that set their own rates, would have to consider, but not adopt, for recovering the full added cost of grid upgrades from data center customers of 100 megawatts or more.
• Congress.gov bill page · Bill text (as placed on the Senate calendar)

S. 5199, GRID Savings Act of 2026

• Sponsor: Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM). Senate bill.
• Latest action: July 30, 2026. Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
• What the text changes: it would have FERC write rules for connecting loads of 150 megawatts or more to interstate transmission, with connection equipment costs assigned to the customer.
• Congress.gov bill page · Bill text (as introduced)

S. 5653, Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act of 2026

• Sponsor: Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV). Senate bill.
• Latest action: September 30, 2026. Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
• What the text changes: in a broad permitting bill, it would write into federal law that the added cost of serving new data center loads of 20 megawatts or more could not be charged to customers outside that large-user group, within limits the bill sets.
• Congress.gov bill page · Bill text (as introduced)

H.R. 10809, Make Data Centers Pay Act

• Sponsor: Rep. Eugene Vindman (D-VA-7). House bill.
• Latest action: October 13, 2026. Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
• What the text changes: it would write into federal law that the added cost of serving new data center loads of 20 megawatts or more could not be charged to customers outside that large-user group, within limits the bill sets.
• Congress.gov bill page · Bill text (as introduced)

S. 5640, Data Center Transparency Act of 2026

• Sponsor: Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE). Senate bill.
• Latest action: September 30, 2026. Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
• What the text changes: it would require federal reports on large data centers' energy use, water use and emissions, including how household energy bills may have changed.
• Congress.gov bill page · Bill text (as introduced)

S. 5645, Data Center Community Empowerment Act of 2026

• Sponsor: Sen. John Curtis (R-UT). Senate bill.
• Latest action: September 30, 2026. Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
• What the text changes: it would let state, local and tribal governments ask the Energy Department for technical information on a proposed data center, which could include expected upgrade costs and who is expected to pay.
• Congress.gov bill page · Bill text (as introduced)

H.R. 6633, High-Capacity Grid Act

• Sponsor: Rep. Julie Fedorchak (R-ND-At Large). House bill.
• Latest action: September 16, 2026. Received in the Senate, read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. It passed the House by voice vote on September 15.
• What the text changes: it would require a "best-available" class of transmission wire on new federally regulated lines and major upgrades, with exceptions.
• Congress.gov bill page · Bill text (as referred in the Senate)

H.R. 9332, Load Forecasting Enhancement Act

• Sponsor: Rep. Troy Balderson (R-OH-12). House bill.
• Latest action: September 16, 2026. Received in the Senate, read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. It passed the House by voice vote on September 15.
• What the text changes: it would set up regional boards to study how to forecast power demand.
• Congress.gov bill page · Bill text (as referred in the Senate)

H.R. 9339, Affordable Innovation for the Grid Act

• Sponsor: Rep. Diana Harshbarger (R-TN-1). House bill.
• Latest action: September 16, 2026. Received in the Senate, read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. It passed the House by voice vote on September 15.
• What the text changes: it would have the Energy Department study using AI and high-performance computing to improve the grid's capacity, reliability and efficiency. It does not address who pays for data center grid costs.
• Congress.gov bill page · Bill text (as referred in the Senate)

Known and not yet known

Known: what each bill's text says and the latest recorded action for each bill as of October 27, 2026. Not yet known: whether any of these bills will move further, whether their texts will change, and how any of them would change household electricity bills. The texts and official records checked do not settle these.

More on these bills

This page accompanies our Sessions on the Hill video, "Data-center electricity costs: What are the different proposals?"

Watch the video

How this was made

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