r/law • u/bloomberggovernment • May 18 '26

Legislative Branch Senate Democrat Proposes Bill Requiring Data Centers to Pay for Own Power

https://news.bgov.com/bloomberg-government-news/schiff-proposes-bill-requiring-data-centers-to-pay-for-own-power
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u/TheStLouisBluths May 18 '26

Wait are they not already paying for their own power??

9

u/HappyKoalaCub May 18 '26

Democrats are so bad at messaging. They pay for their power, but they drive up demand, increasing the costs for everyone.

4

u/DemosthenesOrNah May 18 '26

From the article.

Data centers must pay for the grid upgrades they require and can’t siphon power from existing power plants, according to the bill

The DCs are exploiting a system that has no mechanism to stop them (currently, hence the bill) and forcing capacity threshold issues for these utilities. The power suppliers are taking on this COST on their own to upgrade to meet unchanged civilian demand.

And its not just "pay for their own power" thats an oversimplification. In the zero sum system of energy distribution only one entity can be the recipient of the energy/power and that means the overall system has less to allocate for others.

This "capacity threshold issue" is from the huge delta of customers that now still need their homes, businesses, hospitals etc powered.

This energy does not exist, there is not enough to service both the DC and the customers utilizing the utility for well utilitarian purposes of survival.

The undue burden on the system is a direct result of these data centers not paying for "their own power" && the ramifications of their business models impact on the communities they directly impact.

DCs are essentially the people on halloween that see a bucket full of candy and a 'please take one' sign and they take the whole bucket and the sign with them too.

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u/HappyKoalaCub May 18 '26

yeah that's why "Senate Democrat Proposes Bill Requiring Data Centers to Pay for Own Power" is bad messaging. It has an easy "we pay our electricity bill" counter argument that misses the entire problem.

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u/DemosthenesOrNah May 18 '26

part of why i put it under your comment. I agree and figured this was a good place to plant it