Ratepayer Protection Act
Latest action · Jul 16, 2026 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
Progress
Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.
- IntroducedJul 16, 2026
- Passed SenateNot reached
- Passed HouseNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
Ratepayer Protection Act
The bill requires state utility regulators and nonregulated utilities to consider implementing a standard to hold certain large-load customers responsible for the costs associated with any generation, transmission, or distribution upgrade of electric service necessary to serve such customers. A large-load customer means a non-residential electric consumer that enters, or requests to enter, an agreement concerning the sale of electric energy primarily to operate information technology infrastructure and related systems pertaining to data storage and computational applications and services (e.g., data centers) that have a peak electric demand of 100 megawatts or more at a single site or campus.
Specifically, the bill requires states to consider implementing a federal standard for large-load customers. The standard must require rates charged by electric utilities for providing electric service to a large-load customer to be designed to recover from the large-load customer the full, incremental cost of any generation, transmission, or distribution upgrade necessary to serve such customer. This rate must include the costs that would be incurred if the large-load customer terminates an agreement with the electric utility pertaining to the sale of electric energy or otherwise ceases the purchase of energy from the electric utility.
Under the standard, an electric utility must require the large-load customer to provide to the utility financial assurances or contributions to cover the cost of any generation, transmission, or distribution upgrade that is necessary to serve the load of a large-load customer before the utility makes any generation, transmission, or distribution upgrade.
Cosponsors 16
Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from Sep 14, 2026 to Sep 28, 2026.
| Seat | Cosponsor | Signed on | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-AL | Tommy Tuberville | Sep 14, 2026 | |
| R-FL | Ashley Moody | Sep 17, 2026 | |
| R-LA | John Kennedy | Sep 17, 2026 | |
| R-NE | Pete Ricketts | Sep 17, 2026 | |
| R-KS | Roger Marshall | Sep 17, 2026 | |
| R-SC | Darline Graham | Sep 22, 2026 | |
| R-ND | John Hoeven | Sep 22, 2026 | |
| R-ME | Susan M. Collins | Sep 22, 2026 | |
| R-AR | Tom Cotton | Sep 22, 2026 | |
| R-OK | Alan Armstrong | Sep 23, 2026 | |
| R-TX | John Cornyn | Sep 23, 2026 | |
| R-IA | Joni Ernst | Sep 23, 2026 | |
| R-AL | Katie Boyd Britt | Sep 23, 2026 | |
| R-TN | Bill Hagerty | Sep 24, 2026 | |
| R-IN | Todd Young | Sep 24, 2026 | |
| R-NE | Deb Fischer | Sep 28, 2026 |
Committees 1
Where it was sent and what each committee and subcommittee did with it, in order.
| Chamber | Committee | What it did |
|---|---|---|
| Senate | Energy and Natural Resources Committee | Referred Jul 16, 2026 |
Actions 2
Everything that happened, newest first.
- Jul 16, 2026Introduced in Senate
- Jul 16, 2026Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
Research
What has been written about this bill: committee reports, cost estimates, the sponsor’s authority statement, printed hearings and the Congressional Research Service’s work.
CRS reports 1
Congressional Research Service work that CRS links to this bill or the law it became, newest first.
Cite it 1
Products on other subjects that cite it, usually among other measures.
| Product | Title | Kind | Published |
|---|---|---|---|
| R49326 | Data Centers and the Electricity Grid: Frequently Asked Questions | Report | Sep 1, 2026 |
Related bills 1
Companion bills and other measures the record links to this one.
| Bill | Title | Relationship | Latest action |
|---|---|---|---|
| HR 9340 | Ratepayer Protection Act | Related bill | Sep 30, 2026 |
Titles 2
Every title it has carried, official and short, at each stage.
- Official Title as Introduced
- A bill to amend the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 to establish a Federal standard relating to the recovery of the full, incremental costs of upgrades that serve large-load customers, and for other purposes.
- Short Title(s) as Introduced
- Ratepayer Protection Act
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Energy.
Text 1
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- Jul 16, 2026Introduced in Senate
Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov; cost estimates are the Congressional Budget Office's, and the hearings are the printed hearings GovInfo publishes, which can appear months after the hearing.
