14 federal actions on data center power, each with its source, reviewed 10 October 2026.
The Department of Energy told FERC in October 2025 to write national rules for connecting large loads. FERC did not issue one: on 18 June 2026 it opened a show-cause proceeding against each of the six grid operators it regulates and left the rulemaking docket open. Around that, the administration has pushed speed, through a permitting order, federal sites, EPA construction guidance and emergency orders that keep old plants running, alongside a voluntary pledge that data centers pay their own way. Congress has passed nothing binding.
Grid operator tariff filings are due around 16 November 2026 and FERC rulings will follow into 2027. FERC must also decide PJM's curtailment rule for new large loads and the terms of its backstop procurement, which cannot start before 28 February 2027. The Ratepayer Protection Act is stalled in the Senate after a failed vote on 30 September 2026. A bipartisan Senate permitting bill announced the same day would make data centers pay all of their transmission costs, but no vote is expected until after the 3 November elections.
FERC sets the terms on which the grid operators connect and charge large loads, the Department of Energy can order plants to keep running and has pushed co-location, the EPA governs the air permits that on-site generation needs, and Congress has bills pending. FERC chose six regional large-load proceedings over one national rule
No. As of 10 October 2026 no federal pause on data center construction or connection is in force; the moratoria that exist are state executive orders and county or city decisions, listed on the state pages.
Grid operator tariff filings are due around 16 November 2026 and FERC rulings will follow into 2027. FERC must also decide PJM's curtailment rule for new large loads and the terms of its backstop procurement, which cannot start before 28 February 2027. The Ratepayer Protection Act is stalled in the Senate after a failed vote on 30 September 2026. A bipartisan Senate permitting bill announced the same day would make data centers pay all of their transmission costs, but no vote is expected until after the 3 November elections.
14 items: each is a law, order, tariff, ruling, utility action or local decision that changes what a data center must do, pay or disclose, or where it may be built. Failed and pending measures are marked. Each links to its source.
The department's 2026 list runs to 61 entries through 25 September. Rolling 90-day orders keep retiring plants available (Campbell, Schahfer, Culley, Eddystone, Wagner, Centralia, Craig, Stanton), and short orders in January, May, June, July and September let PJM, ERCOT, SPP and Duke call on backup generation as a last resort before load shedding. The January and May orders named data centers explicitly.
Source: energy.govThe House passed the bill 417 to 3 on 16 September 2026. It would amend PURPA so that states must consider, but need not adopt, a standard making large-load customers such as data centers pay the full cost of the grid upgrades they cause. A Senate motion to advance it failed 57 to 43 on 30 September 2026, short of the 60 votes needed, with most Democrats calling it optional and toothless.
Source: valleynewslive.comAnnounced 30 September 2026 by the chairs and ranking members of the Senate energy and environment committees (Lee, Heinrich, Capito, Whitehouse). It would require data centers to pay all of their associated transmission costs, rewrite federal environmental review and permitting, tell grid operators and utilities to streamline transmission planning, and widen FERC's authority to permit major interstate lines when a state stalls or rejects them. The Senate will not vote until after the November 2026 elections.
Source: mgrid.orgIn September 2026 the North American Electric Reliability Corporation drafted three reliability standards for data centers, applying at 50 MW and 100 kV. The standards are drafts and would need FERC approval before they bind.
Source: mgrid.orgA bill on data centers and their effect on electricity costs failed to advance in the Senate on 30 September 2026. It needed 60 votes and got 57, in one of the last votes before senators left to campaign. The report does not name the bill, so whether it was the House-passed Ratepayer Protection Act is not confirmed.
Source: broadbandbreakfast.comThe Department of Energy picked four sites in 2025: Idaho National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Paducah and Savannah River. In late July 2026 it announced a 1.8 GW campus at Paducah (Brookfield, NextEra, Big Rivers) with 2 GW of new gas generation and up to 2.6 GW of batteries, targeted for 2031, and chose Amentum to negotiate a lease for a 1 GW data center with about 2 GW of on-site generation at Savannah River. Neither lease is final.
Source: ans.orgOn 18 December 2025 FERC found PJM's rules for load sited with generation unjust and unreasonable and ordered three new services: interim non-firm service, firm contract demand and non-firm contract demand, plus a MW cap on netting large loads against behind-the-meter generation. Co-located load pays for regulation and black start on gross demand. An 18 June 2026 order on rehearing and compliance kept that direction, gave PJM 60 days for a further filing and left the service terms open to revision.
Source: bclplaw.comOn 18 June 2026 FERC preliminarily found the tariffs of all six grid operators it regulates unjust and unreasonable for loads of 50 MW or more connecting above 69 kV. Each must justify its tariff or file rules on study procedures, upgrade cost recovery agreements, co-located generation, flexible (curtailable) transmission service and generators serving nearby loads. After 90-day abeyances the tariff filings are due around 16 November 2026.
Source: willkie.comThe Energy Secretary's 23 October 2025 advance notice asked FERC to set national rules for connecting loads above 20 MW to the transmission system. FERC said on 16 April 2026 that it would act by the end of June, then chose the six regional show-cause orders instead of a national rule. The docket stays open, and FERC encouraged utilities outside the organized markets to file their own large-load tariff terms.
Source: nysrc.orgProposed on 11 May 2026 with a 45-day comment period. It would write into the New Source Review rules that work on non-emitting parts of a site, such as pads and utility infrastructure, can begin before the permit issues, while work on turbines, engines and other emitting units still waits. EPA also issued Title V guidance in April and May 2026 to shorten its review of operating permits. A final rule had not been confirmed at the time of writing.
Source: gibsondunn.comSigned at the White House on 4 March 2026 by Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, Oracle and xAI. Signers commit to build, bring or buy new generation, pay for all delivery upgrades, take separate rate structures and pay for capacity whether or not they use it, and make backup generation available in grid emergencies. It is a pledge, not a rule; utilities including TVA have since signed.
Source: whitehouse.govEPA launched the guidance page on 11 December 2025. It collects the agency's positions on permitting turbines and engines at data centers, including using enforceable limits to stay below major-source thresholds, and a 2 September 2025 letter saying the ban on construction before a permit applies to the emitting unit and not the whole facility.
Source: gibsondunn.comSigned 23 July 2025. It directs agencies to fast-track federal permits for data centers and the power and transmission that serve them, to offer federal financial support, and to make federal land available. The Department of Energy cites it as the basis for its federal-site projects.
Source: climate.law.columbia.eduSigned 4 July 2025. It restores permanent 100 percent first-year expensing for equipment acquired from 20 January 2025, which covers servers and on-site generation. Wind and solar projects must start construction by 4 July 2026 or be in service by the end of 2027 to keep the 45Y and 48E credits, so new solar and wind supply for data centers loses its federal subsidy after that.
Source: wipfli.comNeed the capacity sooner than the queue allows? Every unit in the register is held by Genloop, restored and re-warrantied, and can move on your timeline.
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