A new bill has been proposed in the US Senate that would permit artificial intelligence (AI) data center firms to bypass federal electricity regulations by building their own energy infrastructure.
The DATA Act of 2026 was proposed by Senator Tom Cotton (Republican, Arkansas) and would amend the Federal Power Act.
“American dominance in AI and other crucial emerging industries should not come at the expense of Arkansans paying higher energy costs,” Cotton said in a statement. “My bill will ensure that America can continue to lead in these spaces by eliminating outdated regulations.”
If passed the bill would create a new utility category called “consumer-regulated electric utilities” (CREUs), with companies who build their own independent power infrastructure falling under this new designation. In order to qualify for CREU, the utilities would have to be completed disconnected from the main grid and built solely to serve new electric loads. Consequently, if the utility subsequently connects to the grid it would lose its exempt status.
I know the grid in Texas is (was?) separated from the main national grid, and I guess, maybe something like this could eventually lead to a state wide grid that’s disconnected from the main grid, and maybe that’s very much the long term intention and a real problem.
It would take awhile to manifest as a big issue though as at least the blurb indicates it has to be for newly built power plants and new loads.
If a data center wants to build their own offgrid power system though I don’t see the harm in that? In the future they might very well be building SMR’s to power only their facility.
I think it should all still be overseen by whatever existing regulations there are and kept to the same standards though. And maybe some rules about connecting them to other purpose built ones under this same grouping?
Like, Apple builds one, and then Google builds one. Google and Apple can’t join together.
Maybe even limit it to some strict commercial type use, so Google can’t be doing this to power a google city where residents live.
Edits: Clarity and thoughts along those lines.
Edit: Oh and it should be mandated to be green energy.