Power for the People Act of 2026

This bill would require the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to issue a rule, within 180 days, making grid operators create separate waiting lists (load queues) for connecting data centers that use more than 50 megawatts to the power grid. Data centers that bring their own new low- or no-carbon power supply, avoid diesel backup power, and meet certain wage and labor standards would get priority, and grid operators could delay or deny connections that would harm reliability or raise costs for other customers. Public utilities would have to charge each data center for local transmission upgrades built only to serve it. States with data centers would have to consider creating a separate electricity rate class for data centers, and the Department of Energy would offer grants and technical help for this and for forecasting electricity demand.

Full text and official record on Congress.gov

Sponsors

• Chris Van Hollen Democrat sponsor
• 8 cosponsors