Senator Adam Schiff announced the Energy Cost Fairness and Reliability Act on May 18, a bill aimed at preventing ordinary electricity customers from absorbing the grid costs of AI data center expansion. The proposal would require large energy-intensive facilities to bring their own power, pay for network upgrades needed to serve them, accept demand flexibility during peak periods, and avoid siphoning electricity from plants already serving the public. It would also direct federal energy officials and national laboratories to study data center demand and reliability risks.

The proposal focuses on who pays when data centers need more electricity and grid capacity. AI services require buildings, cooling systems, transmission lines, backup power, and permission to draw large loads from public infrastructure. Utilities can recover those costs through rate plans, even from customers who never use the service that created the demand. Schiff's bill tries to move those costs back onto the companies requesting the connection. It also treats demand flexibility as a condition of access, so grid operators can reduce power to data centers during peak periods instead of pushing the burden onto households.