The U.S. Senate, which had been expected to recess at the end of this week, now has plans to stay in and take up the Ratepayer Protection Act, a data center utility costs bill.
“We will probably take up ratepayer protection, which helps with the energy costs around data centers. There is a lot of concern in West Virginia on this. I’m fully on board with this,” Senator Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., said during a briefing with West Virginia reporters.
“This is important, I think, to people. It’s a big topic of discussion, and so hopefully we will get that across the finish line next week.”
The Ratepayer Protection Act passed the U.S. House of Representatives by a 417-3 margin on Sept. 16
The policy requires state public utility commissions to consider setting rules that force large data centers demanding 100 megawatts or more of power to pay the full incremental cost of their energy infrastructure upgrades rather than shifting those bills onto everyday consumers and small businesses.
The Ratepayer Protection Act has turned into a major midterm election flashpoint, particularly for Senator Jon Husted, a Republican from Ohio locked in a tight election, who could benefit from a vote on the measure to neutralize political attacks over rising energy costs.
Husted’s opponent former Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown, has hit Husted as the “face of data centers” and architect of Ohio’s power-demand strain.
Senate Democrats characterize the Ratepayer Protection Act as a weak messaging proposal that lacks mandatory enforcement to stop rising electricity bills.
Meanwhile, the Senate might be delayed in getting to a bipartisan permitting reform policy that has been a priority for Capito.
A vote on energy permitting reform legislation in the Senate now seems unlikely to happen before the upcoming midterm elections.
Capito, in response to a MetroNews question, said she does not believe the delay has been due to placing a priority on the Ratepayer Protection Act instead.
“Well, no, I don’t think the Ratepayer Protection Act bumps the permitting deal at all because a lot of what the Ratepayer Protection Act encompasses is within our permitting bill. We have a lot of the elements of that,” Capito said.
“I think what’s happened is the the Democrats won’t come all the way to the table on on the final deal that we struck. And I will emphasize again, we have a deal, we have a negotiated bill.”
The energy permitting reform legislation under consideration by the Senate aims to accelerate the deployment of both traditional and clean energy infrastructure by slashing regulatory delays.
“You know, I’ve been leading the negotiations on this. It’s been going on for probably close to a year, and the whole topic of permitting reform has been going on for many years. This is something we need to do,” Capito said in response to a question by Ogden Newspapers reporter Steven Allen Adams about the delay.
“This is monumental. This is a big thing that we’re sent here to do big things for our country, and and that’s what my impetus has been in this. And we have a deal. We have a deal.”
Capito signaled that her preference would be to vote on the permitting bill next week, but made reference to the possibility that a vote would be on hold until after midterm elections in November.
“Basically, the Democrats have just walked away, for whatever reason, and want to lame duck. And that’s so unpredictable in terms of what you can really accomplish in a lame duck,” she said. “So we’re deciding what direction to go right at this point.”