Schiff Introduces Bill Requiring Data Centers to Pay for Grid Upgrades
This bill was recently introduced in the Senate and is currently being reviewed by the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. It is in the early stages of the legislative process and is considered active. There are no further actions scheduled for this bill at this time.
While the bill addresses rising energy costs for families, it faces strong opposition from the tech industry and includes labor rules that often lack bipartisan support.
Scores run from -100 (strongly harmful) to +100 (strongly beneficial) for each group, combining impact, certainty, scope, and duration ratings of 1-5. How impact scoring works
FERC staff and Department of Energy employees would face a substantial increase in workload. The bill requires FERC to issue multiple final rules within one year, establish new queue systems, review tariffs, and process a new category of interconnection requests. DOE staff would need to build and run a new AI testbed and collect data from data center operators.
“Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this section, the Commission, in order to establish a formal interconnection queue system for large loads to be regulated by the Commission, shall issue 1 or more final rules”
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
Sent to a congressional committee for expert review. The committee decides whether this bill moves forward.
Introduced in Senate
The bill was officially filed and given a number. It now enters the legislative queue.
No votes, news coverage, or related bills recorded for this bill yet.
Document Type
Congressional Bill
Official Title
Energy Cost Fairness and Reliability Act of 2026
Analysis generated by AI. Always verify with official sources.