Ratepayer Protection Act Stalls in Senate: Heinrich Blocks Unanimous Consent, Pushes GRID Savings Act
One day after the House passed H.R. 9340 by 417-3, the Senate path closed. Per ENR's analysis: "H.R. 9340, known as the Ratepayer Protection Act, passed 417-3 but stalled in the Senate the next day amid disagreement over whether states should merely consider the proposed standard or large-load customers should face a direct federal requirement to pay certain grid costs."
The mechanics were a textbook UC block: "Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) blocked Sen. Jon Husted's (R-Ohio) unanimous-consent request to advance H.R. 9340 on Sept. 17. 'It's not enough for us to just tell states to consider making data centers pay for grid upgrades,' Heinrich said on the Senate floor. Heinrich instead sought passage of his GRID Savings Act, which would directly require large-load customers to cover certain grid-connection costs. Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) objected to Heinrich's request."
What the House bill would do, and why it matters for nuclear economics: it covers data center campuses with peak demand of at least 100 MW and says rates should recover from those customers the "full, incremental cost" of generation, transmission and distribution upgrades needed to serve them — "including costs remaining if they stop buying power." Customers would also post financial assurances before utilities undertake upgrades. A binding large-load cost standard of this shape strengthens the case for dedicated firm generation (including nuclear) over socializing grid costs across ratepayers.
State-level practice is already moving the same direction, per the same ENR piece: an August Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory study found minimum-demand provisions with a median requirement equal to 80% of contracted demand; Dominion Energy Virginia's Schedule GS-5 sets minimum billing at 85% of contracted transmission and distribution demand; and DTE's contracts for Oracle's planned 1,383-MW Michigan data center require payment for at least 80% of contracted demand over 19 years, with Green Chile Ventures bearing 15 years of costs for 1,383 MW of matching storage. Meanwhile MSI Economics found that of 12–16 GW of data-center-related capacity projected for 2026 delivery, only about 5 GW is actually under construction — the demand forecasts driving all of this policy remain the biggest uncertainty.