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The US Senate has rejected a bill that would have asked state regulators to consider whether data-centre operators should pay the extra infrastructure costs their electricity demand creates. The Ratepayer Protection Act fell short of the 60 votes needed on 30 September, by three votes, Tom’s Hardware reports, citing Reuters.

Why it matters

The bill had passed the House two weeks earlier. It would not have required states to make data centres pay, and opponents called it toothless. Its defeat leaves the proposed federal measure dead, with no new federal protection from data-centre-related grid costs in place under the bill. As AI data centres drive demand for power, who should bear the cost of expanding the grid: the operators using it or the households and businesses nearby?

Discuss: Should data-centre operators be required to cover the extra grid costs their facilities create, or should those costs be shared across electricity customers?

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