Senate rejects bill on data centers’ power-grid costs

What the bill would have changed

Without rules assigning those costs to data centers, the bill’s supporters warned, utilities could pass them on to households and businesses. The proposal did not set the standards itself; it would have required energy companies to consider them.

The bill’s timing was political as well as practical. It was introduced ahead of the November 3 midterm elections, as Democrats campaign on lowering the cost of living and seek to regain control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives.

In the House, Republican Gabe Evans of Colorado presented the measure. In the Senate, Republican John Husted of Ohio promoted it. The vote became especially sensitive for Democrats: rejecting the bill risked looking inconsistent with their promises to lower electricity bills.

A campaign vote with a policy gap

Husted is seeking reelection in a state Donald Trump carried by 11 percentage points in the election two years ago. Recent polls, however, show Husted trailing Sherrod Brown, a former Democratic senator. Brown has accused Husted of yielding to the demands of the data-center industry.

Republican Senate leaders viewed the proposal as a way to strengthen Husted’s reelection prospects. Democratic leaders chose to oppose it, arguing that the bill would not effectively address data centers’ electricity consumption.

This was one of the Senate’s last votes before the election. Senators are due to finish work on Friday and return to their states to campaign.

I think the vote exposes a distinction the bill left unresolved: who pays for grid upgrades is not the same question as how much electricity data centers should use. The proposal addressed the first by asking utilities to consider cost standards; Democrats’ objection focused on the second. With the Senate rejecting the bill, neither question has a new answer in this measure.