The House on Sept. 16 passed H.R. 9340, the Ratepayer Protection Act, by a vote of 417-3.
The bill would create a new “must consider” requirement under section 111 of the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA) of “Standards for Large-Load Customers,” including rates designed to recover from the large load customer (100 megawatts or more) the full, incremental cost of any generation, transmission, or distribution upgrades necessary to serve the large load customer and financial contributions or assurances ahead of the utility making any upgrades to serve the large load customer.
Roughly 200 public power utilities must comply with any new PURPA “must consider” requirements.
APPA said it shares the goal of this bill – to protect customers from costs associated with serving data centers.
However, APPA does not support the creation of a new PURPA 111(d) mandate, particularly because many public power utilities already serve data centers responsibly, many have finalized rates, terms, and conditions for data centers and other large loads, and others are actively considering such policies.
Following passage, APPA issued a statement reaffirming its commitment to protecting existing customers from the costs of serving large data centers and urging Congress and the Administration to take further steps to protect customers by changing private use regulations to protect customers from the risk of stranded costs and by modernizing the tax treatment of municipal bonds to reduce costs and increase flexibility in financing.
