Protecting Families from AI Data Center Energy Costs Act
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeMr. Landsman (for himself, Mr. Beyer, Ms. Norton, Mr. Levin, …
Summary
What This Bill Does
This bill requires the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to study how the growing electricity demands of AI data centers affect household energy bills. FERC must hold a public conference with utilities, regulators, and consumer advocates within 90 days, then report to Congress within 180 days with recommendations for protecting residential and small business ratepayers from rising costs.
Who Benefits and How
Residential and small business electricity customers could benefit if FERC's recommendations lead to rate structures that prevent large energy users from shifting costs onto smaller ratepayers. Consumer advocacy groups gain a formal voice in shaping energy policy through required participation in the technical conference. State utility regulators gain federal attention to an issue that affects local ratepayers.
Who Bears the Burden and How
AI data center operators and other large electricity consumers may face new rate structures or cost allocations that require them to pay more of their true infrastructure costs. FERC faces additional administrative work to organize the conference and produce a detailed report. Public utilities and transmission providers must participate in the conference and may need to provide data on their rate structures.
Key Provisions
- FERC must hold a Commissioner-led technical conference within 90 days of enactment
- The conference must include Department of Energy, utilities, transmission providers, state regulators, ratepayer advocates, and large load operators including AI data centers
- The focus is on strategies and rate structures to protect residential and small commercial ratepayers
- FERC must submit a report to Congress within 180 days after the conference with recommendations and best practices
Evidence Chain:
This summary is derived from the structured analysis below. See "Detailed Analysis" for per-title beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
Primary Purpose
Requires the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to study and develop recommendations for protecting residential and small commercial ratepayers from increased electricity costs caused by large energy loads, particularly AI data centers.
Policy Domains
Legislative Strategy
"Study-and-report approach to address emerging energy cost concerns from AI/data center growth without immediate regulatory mandates"
Likely Beneficiaries
- Residential electricity ratepayers
- Small commercial electricity ratepayers
- Consumer advocacy groups
- State utility regulators
Likely Burden Bearers
- Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (administrative burden)
- AI data center operators (potential future regulation)
- Large electricity consumers (potential future rate structure changes)
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "the_commission"
- → Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
Major electricity consumers including data centers used for artificial intelligence models (defined by example in the bill text)
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology