Republican lawmakers are preparing to bring legislation to the House floor aimed at reining in electricity bill increases tied to data center expansion.
Speaker Mike Johnson’s spokesperson Taylor Haulsee confirmed the timeline, saying, “The bill will be on the floor of the House next week.”
The plan to hold a vote on the bipartisan Ratepayer Protection Act before the midterm elections was first reported by Axios.
Representative Gabe Evans of Colorado and Representative Kathy Castor of Florida sponsored the House version of the bill.
Senator Jon Husted of Ohio introduced the companion legislation in the Senate, giving the effort bipartisan momentum in both chambers.
The bill would require state utility regulators to consider standards ensuring that large data center customers cover the full incremental costs of new generation, transmission, and distribution infrastructure needed to serve them.
The legislation passed the House Energy and Commerce Committee unanimously in July, reflecting broad support across party lines for addressing rising electricity costs.
The bill does not directly impose rules on states, but instead requires each state’s public utility commission to study and consider adopting the proposed standards.
Ahead of the committee markup, the legislation was narrowed to apply only to data centers, after originally targeting all power uses above 100 megawatts.
House Republicans from politically competitive districts pressed leadership to act, citing constituent concerns about electricity prices tied to the rapid expansion of data centers and artificial intelligence infrastructure.
Data centers have become a flashpoint in the broader debate over AI development, with 70 percent of Americans opposing construction of such facilities in their area.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration said this week that U.S. electricity consumption is expected to reach record levels in both 2026 and 2027, with data centers and other electricity-intensive uses contributing significantly to the increase.
U.S. power demand is projected to rise from 4,195 billion kilowatt-hours in 2025 to 4,270 billion kilowatt-hours in 2026 and 4,349 billion kilowatt-hours in 2027, according to the agency.
Lawmakers in both parties have backed efforts to slow or restrict data center development amid concerns about electricity bills, strained power grids, and water use.
The House vote signals that the political debate over AI is expanding beyond technology and jobs to the more immediate question of who pays for the electricity powering the AI boom.
