“A bill to impose certain requirements on data centers to ensure the prioritization of residential ratepayers, and for other purposes.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section states congressional findings that the construction and operation of data centers and their power sources concern interstate commerce—including its channels, instrumentalities, persons, and things—and constitute economic activities with a substantial effect on interstate commerce.
This section defines nine terms for purposes of the Act: (1) covered entity, meaning a private company or other private entity that owns, operates, or maintains a data center or has plans to do so within the next five years; (2) data center, meaning a data center (as defined in 42 U.S.C. 17112(a)) with a power demand of 20 megawatts or more that is not owned, operated, or maintained by a covered agency (as defined in 44 U.S.C. 3601 note) or a contractor on behalf of such an agency; (3) electric utility, having the meaning given in 16 U.S.C. 2602; (4) existing data center, meaning a data center that has already begun operations; (5) new data center, meaning a data center or planned data center that is not yet operational; (6) Rate Effect Credit, meaning a credit paid by a covered entity to an appropriate party, as determined by the Secretary, that offsets the effect that a data center would otherwise have on the electrical rates paid by ratepayers; (7) Secretary, meaning the Secretary of Energy; (8) utility, including, as the Secretary determines appropriate, an electric utility; a gas utility (as defined in 15 U.S.C. 3202); a public water system (as defined in 42 U.S.C. 300f); a treatment works (as defined in 33 U.S.C. 1292); and any other regulated utility providing water, energy, or other essential services to a data center; and (9) Zero Rate Effect Certificate, meaning a certificate issued by the Secretary under section 4(b).
This section prohibits covered entities from building, owning, operating, or maintaining a data center unless all energy, including backup, derives from off-grid sources (e.g., captive power plants or on-site generation) beginning 180 days after enactment, with existing data centers allowed to comply for 10 years by obtaining annual Zero Rate Effect Certificates from the Secretary. The Secretary issues a certificate if a required study of grid impacts (e.g., interconnection costs, peak contributions, locational marginal prices, line losses) shows no electrical rate increases for ratepayers—prioritizing residential customers—or if offset by Rate Effect Credits or equivalent financial arrangements; certificates expire after one year but are renewable. This section further requires off-grid power sources to comply with applicable laws based on actual use and emissions, mandates project labor agreements for their construction, imposes civil penalties of not less than $1,000,000 per day for violations, and authorizes the Secretary to promulgate implementing regulations (prioritizing residential rates).
This section directs the Secretary to establish, not later than 90 days after enactment, national public reporting requirements for covered entities as follows: (1) for new data centers, estimated utility usage for the first year of operation and each of the next five years, and for existing data centers, such estimates for the current year and next five years plus actual usage for the prior five operational years; (2) any acquisition of real property or possessory interest (including leases) intended for building or expanding a data center, including related transactions or agreements with the seller or any government entity; and (3) any transaction or agreement with a utility for data center service (including Rate Effect Credits), with details on subsidies, credits, discounts, cost-sharing, tax benefits, or other incentives—including estimated total savings to the covered entity and any financial affiliation with the utility—required from both covered entities and utilities.