As AI Data Centers Strain the Grid, Heinrich Fights Over Who Pays the Bill

As artificial intelligence data centers swallow up more of the nation's electricity, the fight in the Senate is no longer about whether they strain the grid. It is about who pays to fix it.

Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), the ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, voted this week against advancing the Ratepayer Protection Act, a bill from Sen. Jon Husted (R-Ohio). Heinrich says the measure fails at the one thing it should do: make AI data centers pay their fair share of the grid upgrades they require, instead of leaving higher electricity costs to ordinary families.

"The Ratepayer Protection Act is exactly what Congress is known for: all message and no substance," Heinrich said. "If voluntary pledges and suggestions worked, families and small businesses wouldn't be staring down rate hikes right now."

"I want Congress to pass legislation with real teeth that will require data centers to pay their fair share of the grid upgrades they require and doesn't shift costs onto American families," he said. "Husted's bill fails to do both. I am pushing for legislation that will actually hold AI data centers accountable for their energy usage and lower electricity bills for Americans."

It is not the first time Heinrich has stepped in front of Husted's bill. Last week he blocked an attempt to pass the Ratepayer Protection Act by unanimous consent, urging colleagues to take up his own GRID Savings Act instead. That bill would force large electricity users, data centers chief among them, to pay for the facilities needed to connect them to the grid.

The same principle runs through the broader bipartisan permitting deal Heinrich unveiled this week with Sens. Mike Lee, Shelley Moore Capito, and Sheldon Whitehouse, which also requires data centers to cover their transmission costs. The question now is which vehicle, if any, reaches the president's desk, and whether the cost of powering the AI boom lands on the companies building it or on the families paying the monthly bill.