House to vote on bill to rein in AI data center utility costs

The House could vote as early as Tuesday night on a bill that aims to curb data center-related utility bill rate hikes, as backlash to the proliferating facilities grows ahead of the 2026 midterm election.

The bipartisan bill — dubbed the Ratepayer Protection Act — would establish standards that state regulators could adopt to require artificial intelligence data centers with a demand of 100 megawatts or more to cover the costs of building new power sources, transmission lines and other infrastructure, rather than passing those costs down to consumers.

“The principle is commonsense: Those creating the new demand should be responsible for the costs associated with meeting that demand,” the bill sponsor Rep. Gabe Evans, a Colorado Republican seeking reelection in one of the most tightly contested House seats this year, said in a Washington Reporter op-ed on Monday.

House Speaker Mike Johnson is expected to bring the bill to the floor under a process known as suspension of the rules, which is used to expedite noncontroversial legislation. It requires a two-thirds vote to pass and is expected to garner broad, bipartisan support, as members of both parties are eager to show voters they’ve taken steps to rein in data centers before returning to their districts to campaign. But some outside environmental groups have voiced concerns.

Evans introduced the legislation in June with Rep. Kathy Castor, a Florida Democrat who also has a tough reelection bid after her state legislature redrew her district earlier this year. The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter has labeled both races a “toss up.”

Data centers have sprung up as a crucial issue in the 2026 elections, in which Republicans are trying to defend narrow majorities in both the House and Senate. A cross-partisan, grassroots movement opposing the facilities — which store data, process information and have helped fuel the AI boom — has cropped up around the country, prompting elected officials to come out in favor of more stringent regulation.

States and localities have primary authority over individual projects, but the House bill would seek to create a set of guardrails that states could choose to adopt to address one of the top concerns of residents who live near operational or proposed data center projects: higher utility costs. The bill would codify parts of the White House’s “Ratepayer Protection Pledge,” which President Donald Trump released in March.

“My neighbors across Florida are grappling with skyrocketing electric bills. Ratepayers should not have to subsidize wealthy corporations’ growing energy demands, especially from AI data centers,” Castor said in a statement in June unveiling the proposal.

But groups like the League of Conservation Voters say the measure doesn’t go far enough to address their data center concerns. 

“With only a weak directive to states to voluntarily consider adopting cost protections against the energy costs of data centers for ratepayers, state regulators…