WASHINGTON — Rep. Eugene Vindman, D-Va., has introduced legislation that would require the operators of large data centers to publicly disclose who owns them, how much electricity and water they use, and how much of their infrastructure cost is passed on to utility customers.
The Data Center Oversight Act, H.R. 10950, would direct the federal Energy Information Administration to collect the information and publish it, according to a release from Vindman’s office on Oct. 29. The bill was referred to the House Energy and Commerce Committee the same day and had no cosponsors, according to the bill record.
“Virginians deserve to know who is building data centers in their communities, how much energy and water these facilities consume, and whether the costs are being shifted onto them through higher utility bills,” Vindman said in the release.
What operators would have to report
The bill applies to facilities of 20 megawatts or more, including those used for artificial intelligence, cloud computing, hosting and cryptocurrency mining, according to the bill summary. Operators would file at least 30 days before construction, again within 30 days of beginning operation, and every year for 10 years after that.
Filings would name anyone owning 10% or more of a facility, the utilities serving it, the cost of new transmission and other infrastructure and who pays for it, and 10-year projections of the effect on electric rates. Operators would also report on-site generation and backup generators, water sources and cooling methods.
Vindman’s office said the disclosures would also cover nondisclosure agreements signed with public officials, the use of union labor, and whether a facility sits within 1,000 feet of a school, national park, hospital or home. The release said violations could bring penalties of up to $1 million a day.
The Energy Information Administration would publish the filings in a free, searchable database available for bulk download and release aggregate statistics each quarter. The bill does not give the Energy Department authority to approve, deny or delay any project, and it does not preempt state authority over retail electric rates, according to the summary.
A Virginia issue
The stakes are highest in Virginia. A December 2024 study by the state’s Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission found Northern Virginia to be the largest data center market in the world, with about 13% of global operational capacity and 25% of capacity in the Americas, and estimated that unconstrained demand for power from the industry could double within 10 years.
The commission found that data centers were then paying the full cost of the service they receive, but projected that generation and transmission costs for a typical Dominion Energy residential customer could rise by $14 to $37 a month, in real terms, by 2040 as the utility builds to meet demand. It also found that about one-third of the state’s data centers sit near residential areas, and that the industry supported about 74,000 jobs and $9.1 billion in state GDP.
The study put the value of Virginia’s sales and use tax exemption for data center equipment at $928 million in fiscal 2023, and found that about 90% of the industry uses it. The exemption runs through 2035.
Part of a series of bills
The bill is the latest in a string of energy-cost measures from Vindman. His office listed the Make Data Centers Pay Act, introduced in October, the Smart Data Center Policy Act from August, the Home Energy Affordability Act, the Utility Hikes Transparency Act and the Energy Utility Lobbying Ban Act. The release said he was the first member of Virginia’s congressional delegation to oppose the proposed merger of NextEra Energy and Dominion, and that he spoke at a State Corporation Commission hearing on it.
Data center transparency has drawn interest beyond Vindman’s office. A weekly roundup of technology bills, summarized by Tech Insider, noted a Senate measure, the Data Center Transparency Act of 2026, from Sens. Lisa Blunt Rochester, D-Del., and John Curtis, R-Utah, and listed Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va., as a co-lead on a bipartisan bill to revive Congress’s technology office.
Vindman is on the ballot Tuesday against Republican Doug Ollivant and four other candidates, as The Inquisitor reported last month. If it does not advance before the 119th Congress ends in January, the bill would have to be reintroduced in the new Congress.
Leave a Reply