Power for the People Act of 2026
Sponsored By: Senator Chris Van Hollen
Introduced
Summary
Shift the costs and grid impacts of big data centers onto the data centers themselves, not ordinary ratepayers. The bill creates special interconnection 'data center load queues', a set of qualifying clean‑energy and labor rules, and a push for state data‑center rate classes so those facilities cover the grid costs they create.
Show full summary
- Families and non‑data‑center customers: Utilities would allocate local transmission upgrade costs to data centers so other customers are less likely to subsidize those upgrades. Congress notes data centers could consume about 6.7%–12% of electricity by 2028.
- Data center owners and operators: Large non‑Federal data centers (defined as over 50 megawatts) must advance through new load queues and can earn queue priority only by meeting qualifying strategies like procuring new dedicated supply, adding low‑ or no‑carbon backup, or using batteries and load flexibility. The bill also allows higher interconnection study costs, longer contracts, and contributions in aid of construction.
- States and utilities: State regulators must consider creating a data‑center rate class under the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act within set timelines. The bill funds grants and technical help to design rate rules, demand charges, deposits, and clean transition tariffs.
- Construction and operations workers: Projects meeting the bill's energy or construction requirements must pay prevailing wages, use registered apprentices, and follow labor peace rules, with enforcement by the Secretary of Labor.
Your PRIA Score
Personalized for You
How does this bill affect your finances?
Sign up for a PRIA Policy Scan to see your personalized alignment score for this bill and every other piece of legislation we track. We analyze your financial profile against policy provisions to show you exactly what matters to your wallet.
Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
5 provisions identified: 1 benefits, 0 costs, 4 mixed.
Data center queue and labor rules
If enacted, the Commission would have 180 days to make a rule forcing grid operators to use a special data‑center load queue. Covered entities would have one year after the rule to comply. The queue would give priority to data centers that bring new, dedicated supply, use low‑ or no‑carbon backup (no diesel), meet prevailing wage and registered apprentice requirements for construction, and use labor peace agreements for operations. The rule would let flexibility agreements require data centers to be interrupted before other users and could delay or deny interconnection if reliability or affordability for non‑data‑center users would be harmed. The Secretary of Labor would enforce the construction and labor standards.
Help grids forecast data center loads
Within 180 days, the Secretary of Energy would set up technical assistance for ISOs, RTOs, and transmitting utilities to improve long‑term load forecasts, with special focus on data center interconnection requests. The bill would also require the Commission to make new transparency and disclosure rules for interconnection requests to reduce duplicative or speculative filings. The grant and forecasting programs are funded with "such sums as are necessary."
Which sites count as data centers
This bill would define which facilities are treated as data centers. A data center would be a facility (or group of facilities with the same owner in one utility area) that mainly hosts electronic information systems, uses more than 50 megawatts of demand, meets Commission anti‑circumvention rules, and is not federally owned. The bill would also define covered interconnection entities (ISOs, RTOs, and transmitting utilities) and treat organic load growth as not including data centers or crypto‑mining facilities.
Data centers pay local grid upgrades
The bill would require the Commission, within 120 days, to tell utilities to file tariffs that charge each interconnecting data center for local transmission upgrades that would not be needed but for that data center. Data centers would pay those upgrade costs directly. At the same time, data centers would pay transmission rates that reflect embedded grid costs but exclude the locally allocated upgrade charges.
State rules to make data centers pay
The bill would amend federal law to direct States with at least one data center (or a proposed one) to consider creating a data‑center rate class so data centers cover generation, transmission, and distribution costs they cause. States would consider features like minimum demand charges, longer interconnection contracts, higher study deposits, multi‑year ramp periods with reliability safeguards, a clean transition tariff for zero‑emission tech, and upfront contribution in aid of construction payments. Each State regulator and each nonregulated utility would have to start considering this within 1 year of enactment and finish a decision within 2 years. The Secretary of Energy would also make grants and technical help for states and utilities within 180 days, with "such sums as are necessary" authorized.
Sponsors & CoSponsors
Sponsor
Chris Van Hollen
MD • D
Cosponsors
Richard Durbin
IL • D
Sponsored 1/15/2026
Richard Blumenthal
CT • D
Sponsored 1/15/2026
Cory Booker
NJ • D
Sponsored 1/15/2026
Tammy Duckworth
IL • D
Sponsored 1/15/2026
Tina Smith
MN • D
Sponsored 1/15/2026
Peter Welch
VT • D
Sponsored 1/15/2026
Angela Alsobrooks
MD • D
Sponsored 1/15/2026
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
View on Congress.govTake It Personal
Get Your Personalized Policy View
Start a Free Government Policy Watch to see how policy affects your household, then upgrade to PRIA Full Coverage for year-round monitoring.
Already have an account? Sign in