WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.940 A large data center can need new electricity generation, transmission lines or distribution equipment. 00:00:06.940 --> 00:00:09.020 Who would pay for those upgrades? 00:00:09.020 --> 00:00:16.440 H.R. 9340 proposes a standard for recovering their full additional cost from a qualifying customer. 00:00:16.440 --> 00:00:21.460 The proposal has important conditions, and it calls for authorities to consider adopting the standard. 00:00:21.800 --> 00:00:26.933 The proposed standard concerns the full incremental cost of necessary generation, 00:00:26.933 --> 00:00:28.800 transmission or distribution upgrades. 00:00:28.800 --> 00:00:34.800 In plain language, that means the additional cost of the upgrades needed for the qualifying customer. 00:00:34.800 --> 00:00:40.800 It also includes cost recovery if that customer ends its agreement or otherwise stops buying electricity. 00:00:40.800 --> 00:00:46.800 The text does not give a specific exit-fee formula or assign every grid cost to that customer. 00:00:47.240 --> 00:00:52.197 Another part of the proposed standard calls for financial assurances or contributions 00:00:52.197 --> 00:00:56.740 to cover necessary upgrade costs before the utility makes the upgrades. 00:00:56.740 --> 00:01:02.720 The text leaves the form of security, its valuation and the payment schedule unspecified. 00:01:02.720 --> 00:01:05.720 The definition combines several conditions. 00:01:05.720 --> 00:01:11.158 It covers a nonresidential electricity consumer that, on or after enactment, requests 00:01:11.158 --> 00:01:17.720 to enter into or enters into an electricity-sale agreement for one or more facilities. 00:01:17.720 --> 00:01:22.265 Those facilities must primarily use electricity to operate information-technology 00:01:22.265 --> 00:01:28.720 infrastructure and related systems for data storage and computational applications and services. 00:01:28.720 --> 00:01:34.720 Their combined peak electricity demand must be at least 100 megawatts at a single site or campus. 00:01:34.720 --> 00:01:36.720 These conditions belong together. 00:01:36.720 --> 00:01:42.720 The definition does not cover every data center, every industrial customer or every existing agreement. 00:01:42.800 --> 00:01:47.933 The bill also proposes exceptions to specified consideration requirements for certain 00:01:47.933 --> 00:01:49.800 action taken before enactment. 00:01:49.800 --> 00:01:54.514 Those include state implementation, a consideration proceeding, or a legislative vote 00:01:54.514 --> 00:01:58.800 concerning the standard or a comparable standard for the utility. 00:01:58.800 --> 00:02:02.720 A prior proceeding or vote does not, by itself, establish adoption. 00:02:02.720 --> 00:02:07.480 This explanation uses the September 16 House-engrossed text. 00:02:07.480 --> 00:02:12.325 In the official snapshot retrieved October 8, the latest listed action was the 00:02:12.325 --> 00:02:15.680 September 30 withdrawal of the Senate motion to proceed. 00:02:15.680 --> 00:02:21.120 Earlier that day, cloture on that motion was not invoked, 57–43. 00:02:21.120 --> 00:02:25.520 Those were procedural actions about taking up the bill, not a vote rejecting it. 00:02:25.520 --> 00:02:28.120 Later activity may not yet have been posted. 00:02:28.460 --> 00:02:30.680 So what could happen next? 00:02:30.680 --> 00:02:32.860 Under general Senate procedure, 00:02:32.860 --> 00:02:34.940 another effort could be made to take up the bill. 00:02:34.940 --> 00:02:37.120 If debate blocks that effort, 00:02:37.120 --> 00:02:39.960 senators could seek another cloture vote to limit debate. 00:02:39.960 --> 00:02:43.880 Invoking cloture would not itself take up or pass the bill. 00:02:43.880 --> 00:02:45.980 Senators could also agree to take it up 00:02:45.980 --> 00:02:48.880 by unanimous consent, provided no senator objects. 00:02:48.880 --> 00:02:51.060 These are possible procedural routes, 00:02:51.060 --> 00:02:53.760 not an announced plan for H.R. 9340. 00:02:53.970 --> 00:02:55.940 The retained October 8 snapshot 00:02:55.940 --> 00:02:58.370 does not establish a scheduled next step. 00:02:58.370 --> 00:03:01.390 And the proposal itself does not establish household savings 00:03:01.390 --> 00:03:04.360 or guarantee protection from higher electricity bills. 00:03:04.360 --> 00:03:06.720 Who pays for the upgrades is one question. 00:03:06.720 --> 00:03:09.080 What gets reported is another. 00:03:09.080 --> 00:03:15.240 In a planned follow-up, we’ll look at S. 5640 and its proposal for public reports on data-center 00:03:15.240 --> 00:03:18.840 water use, greenhouse-gas emissions and energy use. 00:03:19.080 --> 00:03:22.240 Check the official text and dated source notes linked with this explanation.