Clean Cloud Act of 2025
Sponsored By: Senator Sen. Whitehouse, Sheldon [D-RI]
Introduced
Summary
Creates an annual fee tied to the greenhouse gas intensity of electricity used by data centers and cryptomining facilities. It pairs mandatory annual reporting and region-by-region emissions baselines with fees and grant programs to push toward year‑round zero-carbon power and long-duration storage.
Show full summary
- Owners of covered facilities must report detailed electricity use to the Energy Information Administration each year and face fees starting January 1, 2026 if their grid or behind-the-meter emissions exceed regional baselines. The fee starts with a $20 per-kWh base and rises each year by inflation plus an extra $10.
- Electric utilities that serve covered facilities are assessed fees for grid-supplied electricity consumed by those facilities and may not pass the fee to non-covered customers. If a utility illegally recoups fees from other customers it can face a penalty equal to twice the amount recouped.
- Collected funds are distributed by formula with 70 percent for grants and incentives to deploy zero-carbon "clean firm" generation or long-duration storage, 25 percent for programs to lower residential electricity costs, and 3 percent for administration. Eligible clean firm projects must run year-round at over 70 percent capacity or storage must discharge for at least 10 hours.
- Leased spaces that independently meet the power threshold are treated as separate covered facilities and the tenant counts as the owner for reporting and fees.
- The Administrator must publish regional grid emissions baselines by December 31, 2025. Each region’s baseline is cut by 11 percent of the 2026 baseline annually through 2034 and reaches zero in 2035.
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
5 provisions identified: 1 benefits, 3 costs, 1 mixed.
Big new fees on data centers
This bill would create annual fees on covered data centers and cryptomining sites starting January 1, 2026. Fees would be kWh × a per-kWh dollar amount × how much the facility's emissions per kWh exceed the regional baseline. The first per-kWh amount would be $20. Starting in 2027 the per-kWh amount would rise each year by the prior amount times the CPI-U change plus $10. The agency would publish regional baselines by December 31, 2025. Baselines would drop each year 2027–2034 and hit zero in 2035. The agency would notify assessed parties by January 31 and collect fees by March 31 following the calendar year.
Utilities can't charge your neighbors
If enacted, the bill would bar an electric utility from passing the new covered-facility fee onto customers that are not covered facilities. The agency would monitor utility rate and consumption data. If a utility improperly recoups fees from non-covered customers, the agency could fine it twice the amount that was shifted.
Annual reporting for covered sites
This bill would require owners of covered facilities and the utilities that serve them to submit data every year to the agency and the EIA. Owners would report site location, type, owner, servicing utility, total and behind-the-meter electricity use, share by generation source, and contract terms. Utilities would report per-facility grid use, generation shares, and rates for the current and three prior years. The agency would publish facility emissions intensity annually. Some consumption numbers would be treated as confidential business information.
Which sites count as covered
This bill would treat a site as a "covered facility" only if it is a data center or cryptomining site with more than 100 kilowatts of installed IT nameplate power. Covered status would decide who must report and who could face the new fees and rules. Sites at or below 100 kW would not be covered under this definition.
Limits on counting onsite and contract power
This bill would set strict tests for when behind-the-meter generation, power purchase agreements, or retired energy certificates can be counted toward a facility's low-emissions electricity. Owners must meet conditions like: the generator began within 36 months of facility start; the asset would otherwise be retired and public funds can't prevent it; or a retrofit cuts emissions by at least 75%. Electricity must meet timing, interconnection, and exclusive EAC-retirement rules. Before 2028 generation must match consumption in the same calendar year; after 2027 it generally must match in the same hour.
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Sponsors & CoSponsors
Sponsor
Sen. Whitehouse, Sheldon [D-RI]
RI • D
Cosponsors
Sen. Fetterman, John [D-PA]
PA • D
Sponsored 4/10/2025
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
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