U.S. House Overwhelmingly Passes Bill on Tech Data Center Energy Costs
The U.S. House overwhelmingly passed the Electricity Consumer Protection Act to ensure tech giants cover soaring data center energy costs.
The U.S. House of Representatives has overwhelmingly approved the Electricity Consumer Protection Act in a bipartisan 417-3 vote. The legislation aims to require state regulators to establish mechanisms forcing massive power consumers, primarily tech giants' data centers, to bear the full cost of additional infrastructure needed to meet soaring electricity demands.
The dramatic move comes amid the meteoric expansion of companies like Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Meta, which are building massive facilities to power artificial intelligence systems and cloud services. According to a recent study by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, U.S. data center electricity consumption is projected to surge to approximately 11.8% of the nation's total power consumption by 2030, potentially climbing to 15.3% in certain scenarios.
Introduced by Republican Representative Gabe Evans and Democratic Representative Kathy Castor, the bill seeks to prevent utility companies from shifting the costs of grid upgrades and new generation facilities onto households and small businesses through rate hikes.
The House approval marks a significant milestone in the struggle over energy resources driven by the AI revolution, and the bill will now move to the Senate for a decisive vote. If finally enacted, the legislation could fundamentally alter technology companies' computing infrastructure investment models and impose billions of dollars in additional costs.
