H.R. 9340 · Where this bill is now
In the Senate
Passed the House Sep 16, 2026. Received Sep 17, 2026; no Senate vote yet
What this bill does
In plain words · AI-written from the official summaryMakes data centers pay for power infrastructure upgrades
This bill would require state utility regulators to consider a new rule that makes very large electricity customers—specifically data centers using 100 megawatts or more of power—pay the full cost of any upgrades to the power grid needed to serve them. This includes generation, transmission, and distribution upgrades, plus costs if the data center later leaves or stops buying power from the utility. Before any upgrades happen, the data center would have to provide financial assurance or contributions to cover those costs upfront.
How it affects you
If you live in a state that adopts this standard, it could mean that data center companies pay more directly for the infrastructure they need, rather than spreading those costs among all utility customers. The rule applies specifically to massive data centers and wouldn't directly affect most people's electricity rates, though the overall effect depends on how individual states implement it.
Read the official summary (Reported to House, Sep 10, 2026)
Ratepayer Protection Act
The bill requires state utility regulators and nonregulated utilities to consider implementing a standard to hold certain large-load customers responsible for the costs associated with any generation, transmission, or distribution upgrade of electric service necessary to serve such customers. A large-load customer means a non-residential electric consumer that enters, or requests to enter, an agreement concerning the sale of electric energy primarily to operate information technology infrastructure and related systems pertaining to data storage and computational applications and services (e.g., data centers) that have a peak electric demand of 100 megawatts or more at a single site or campus.
Specifically, the bill requires states to consider implementing a federal standard for large-load customers. The standard must require rates charged by electric utilities for providing electric service to a large-load customer to be designed to recover from the large-load customer the full, incremental cost of any generation, transmission, or distribution upgrade necessary to serve such customer. This rate must include the costs that would be incurred if the large-load customer terminates an agreement with the electric utility pertaining to the sale of electric energy or otherwise ceases the purchase of energy from the electric utility.
Under the standard, an electric utility must require the large-load customer to provide to the utility financial assurances or contributions to cover the cost of any generation, transmission, or distribution upgrade that is necessary to serve the load of a large-load customer before the utility makes any generation, transmission, or distribution upgrade.
Written by AI (Claude) using only the official summary by the Congressional Research Service, the Library of Congress’s nonpartisan research staff. It can miss nuance, so check the official summary and the bill text for details.
2nd SessionH. R. 9340
AN ACT
Ratepayer Protection Act
Sponsor: Rep. Gabe Evans (R-CO-8) · Introduced Jun 18, 2026 · Energy · 4 versions of the text
Sources: Congress.gov actions and votes · bill text from GovInfo · latest official action Sep 30, 2026: “Motion to proceed to consideration of measure withdrawn in Senate. (CR S5199)”
How Congress voted
Official roll callsSenate · On Cloture on the Motion to Proceed · Sep 30, 2026
Cloture on the Motion to Proceed Rejected 57–43
| Party | Yes | No | Didn’t vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| Democrats | 4 | 41 | 0 |
| Independents | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Republicans | 53 | 0 | 0 |
4 members voted against most of their party: 4 Democrats voted Yes.
Source: senate.gov · roll call 254
Congress votes on whole bills and amendments, not on single sections.