Area Senators Lament Non Passage of the Ratepayer Protection Act

 U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) criticized Senate Democrats for blocking the passage of the Ratepayer Protection Act, legislation she cosponsored to help protect Iowa families and small businesses from higher electric bills.

“In Iowa, we believe in a simple rule: you plug in, you pay up,” said Ernst. “We can welcome the jobs and investment data centers bring to our state, but Iowa families shouldn’t be stuck with Big Tech’s power bill. I’m disappointed that Senate Democrats refused to protect hardworking families from Big Tech companies who can afford to pay their own way. Watt’s fair is fair—and passing these costs on to Iowans isn’t.”

The bill would require state utility regulators and nonregulated utilities to consider a standard making qualifying data centers responsible for the full additional cost of power generation, transmission, and distribution upgrades needed to serve them.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) blasted Senate Democrats for blocking overwhelmingly bipartisan legislation that would protect Americans from energy costs associated with data centers.

Grassley is a cosponsor of Sen. Jon Husted’s (R-Ohio) Ratepayer Protection Act, which builds on President Trump’s Ratepayer Protection Pledge signed by major tech and AI companies. The legislation encourages data centers to bring, buy or build their own energy without passing costs onto the community.

This month, the House of Representatives approved the legislation with nearly unanimous, bipartisan support by a vote of 417-3. Reps. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa), Ashley Hinson (R-Iowa), Zach Nunn (R-Iowa) and Randy Feenstra (R-Iowa) voted for the legislation. On Wednesday, the White House announced its support for the legislation.

Iowa is home to some of the cheapest, cleanest and most predictable energy sources in the country, in part due to renewable energy and the long-standing partnership between Iowa’s utility companies and data center companies.