{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.hydesmith.senate.gov/hyde-smith-ferc-commissioners-examine-affordability-data-centers-proliferate", "HYDE-SMITH, FERC COMMISSIONERS EXAMINE AFFORDABILITY AS DATA CENTERS PROLIFERATE", "2026-07-23", "2026", "2026-07", "Republican", "Senate", "MS", "Cindy Hyde-Smith", "H001079", "www.hydesmith.senate.gov", "hydesmith", "https://www.hydesmith.senate.gov/newsroom", "scraper", "Senate FERC Oversight Hearing Heavily Focused on Rising Power Demands & Affordability\n\nVIDEO: Senator Hyde-Smith Discusses Electricity Affordability with FERC Commissioners.\n\nWASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) on Wednesday sought additional details on the mechanisms being put in place to protect families, small businesses, and communities from high electricity bills as data centers and large load manufacturing projects come online in states like Mississippi.\n\nThe Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee conducted an oversight hearing on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the agency tasked with addressing rising power demand from data centers and overseeing the implementation of President Trump\u2019s Ratepayer Protection Pledge Proclamation.\n\n\u201cWe talk a lot about affordability, and in your testimonies and your written statements, it was one of the top priorities. This administration and this commission continue to take action to be so conscious of that that ratepayers aren\u2019t burdened by the higher cost. Mississippi, my home state, continues to be at the forefront of safeguarding ratepayers by ensuring companies, like data centers, pay their fair share for large loads,\u201d Hyde-Smith told the five FERC commissioners testifying at the hearing. \u201cWhat mechanisms is FERC implementing specifically for large load customers to pay upfront payments and commitments to maintain minimum financial contributions to keep the rates from rising?\u201d\n\nFERC Chairman Laura Swett said the agency is actively working to deploy the President\u2019s proclamation through a series of steps to \u201censure that the upgrades that are required by large load is not shouldered by consumers. So, we look at it on a case-by-case basis and across the markets.\u201d\n\nIn June, FERC issued show cause orders under Section 206 of the Federal Power Act to six regional grid operators under its jurisdiction to encourage modernized rules for interconnecting large loads.\n\nCommissioner David Rosner told Hyde-Smith that FERC is working with states, like Mississippi, to help ensure the integration of large load projects into the grid are conducted with attention to detail and transparency.\n\n\u201cFundamentally, this problem is a math problem. It\u2019s an accounting problem. It\u2019s not a glamorous problem to solve. It\u2019s kind of like let\u2019s figure out how much infrastructure we built for you and then let\u2019s make sure that gets on your bill,\u201d Rosner said. \u201cWe\u2019re requiring contracts to make sure that we don\u2019t have stranded cost if you leave early. We\u2019re requiring contracts that, if we have to build a lot of infrastructure up front and the project isn\u2019t energized, that we have a way to build the project for that cost and it doesn\u2019t go to other consumers.\u201d\n\n\u201cIn our rules, we\u2019re asking people, if you built a network upgrade to serve a large load, you got to make that public and let the state commission know so that they can then use their large load tariff and charge it to the right customer,\u201d Rosner added.\n\nIn general, the Ratepayer Protection Pledge Proclamation seeks commitments from technology firms to supply their own electricity generation, covering infrastructure upgrades whether they use the power or not. It also seeks independent rate structures for these operations through direct negotiations with utilities and state governments. It also requires hyper-scalers to coordinate with grid operators to enhance grid resilience and help prevent brownouts.\n\n###", 1, "2026-08-05T07:37:37Z", "2026-08-05T07:38:44Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.hydesmith.senate.gov/hyde-smith-ferc-commissioners-examine-affordability-data-centers-proliferate"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 3.8205820601433516, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}