Senate Bill to Offset Data Centers' Impact on Energy Costs Introduced

WASHINGTON, Jan. 23, 2026 – A bill that would require data centers to offset their energy cost impacts on rate payers was introduced by Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md. 

The Power for the People Act would make several regulatory changes requiring data centers to supply their own power sources and shift responsibility for costs of increases to grid capacity to accommodate usage to the companies themselves.

“Although they are not the only factor causing electricity prices to rise, it is clear that new data center energy demand is having a significant and growing impact on Americans’ utility bills,” Van Hollen said in a Jan. 15 press release. 

In a study published by The Union of Concerned Scientists, data centers are already having an impact on the costs consumers are paying, noting that in 2024 across 13 states, 4.3 billion in additional costs were passed to consumers to cover construction of new transmission lines. The study also highlighted that utilities are expecting an increase of 30-80 percent in electricity sales over the next 10 years. 

The bill aims to prevent the costs of these upgrades and increased demand being shifted to rate payers. In addition to on-site power construction, the bill would direct states to evaluate the need for a new rate class for this new customer class, and require the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to ensure that any local transmission upgrades needed to support data centers are paid by the centers themselves, according to the text of the bill. The UCS are supporters of the legislation. 

“Americans are already struggling to make ends meet – they shouldn’t have to foot the bill for big corporations’ massive expansion of data centers. But right now, the richest corporations on the planet are constructing new data centers at working families’ expense” Van Hollen said in the release. 

The bill has received support from seven other Democratic senators along with interest groups and scientists including the Consumer Federation of America, National Consumer Law Center, Illinois Citizen Utility Board, Organ Citizens Utility Board, among others.