Daijiworld Media Network - Washington

Washington, Sep 16: The US House of Representatives is expected to vote as early as Wednesday on bipartisan legislation aimed at preventing rising electricity costs linked to the expansion of data centres supporting artificial intelligence from being passed on to ordinary households.

The Ratepayer Protection Act would require state utility regulators to consider whether large electricity users, including data centres, should bear the additional costs of power infrastructure required to serve them.

The bill was introduced by Representative Kathy Castor, a Democrat from Florida, and Gabe Evans, a Republican from Colorado. It has received bipartisan backing and is expected to pass the House, as policymakers seek to balance economic growth, grid reliability and consumer affordability ahead of the November midterm elections.

US House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries backed the legislation at a press conference this week, describing it as an "appropriate step forward" while saying that more needed to be done.

Former Federal Energy Regulatory Commission member Allison Clements said the measure was not transformative but could send an important message if passed on a bipartisan basis.

Environmental group Food & Water Watch, which supports a nationwide pause on new data centre development, said the legislation addresses electricity costs narrowly while failing to tackle wider concerns over data centres' impact on water resources, pollution and communities.

The proposed legislation comes as officials across the United States face growing pressure to ensure that the rapidly increasing electricity demand from data centres does not result in higher power bills for average households.