In This Issue…

• Readout: Michigan Customer Affordability Roundtable

• Deep Dive: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s June 18^th Orders to the six RTOs in response to DOE’s ANOPR

• New White Paper: Federal Transmission Pricing in an Era of Load Growth

• Congressional Hearings to Note

Readout: Michigan Customer Affordability Roundtable

The Electricity Customer Alliance convened a roundtable in Lansing, Michigan on June 11, bringing together regulators, large energy users, policymakers, and customer advocates to discuss the growing challenge of rising electricity costs. Participants included U.S. DOE Associate Deputy Secretary Alex Fitzsimmons, Michigan Public Service Commission Chair Dan Scripps, General Motors’ Rob Threlkeld, ABATE Energy’s Michael Patwell, and Michigan State University’s Dr. Erik Nordman.

The discussion focused on the affordability pressures facing Michigan households, businesses, and manufacturers as electricity demand continues to grow from new industrial development, AI infrastructure, and electrification. A recurring theme throughout the conversation was the need to keep customer affordability at the center of energy policy decisions. Panelists discussed opportunities to improve transparency around utility spending, strengthen oversight of large-scale investments, and ensure that the costs associated with new load growth are allocated fairly. Federal perspectives highlighted ongoing efforts to protect ratepayers and prevent existing customers from bearing disproportionate costs as demand expands. The event underscored growing interest among policymakers and stakeholders in developing practical, customer-focused solutions that maintain reliability while addressing affordability concerns.

Deep Dive: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s June 18th Orders to the six RTOs in response to DOE’s ANOPR

Last Thursday, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) took major new steps to clarify and accelerate interconnection processes for new large load customers like data centers and industrial and manufacturing facilities while protecting existing customers from rate increases. FERC issued six new orders—each directed at one of the six FERC-regulated Regional Transmission Organizations/Independent System Operators (RTOs/ISOs)—that require the initiation and implementation of reforms to interconnection rules and transmission service offerings to provide clear roadmaps for how large customer requests to interconnect are studied, put in place safeguards against cost shifts to other customers, and accommodate co-location of large loads with generation, use of behind-the-meter generation, and large load customer flexibility.

The orders represent FERC’s long-awaited response to the Secretary of Energy’ s October 2025 Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANOPR), which itself proposed a series of principles for large load interconnection that should be adopted nationwide. Rather than adopt nationwide reforms through a rulemaking, FERC instead chose a tailored approach requiring each of the six RTOs/ISOs to individually reform their rules and procedures to comply on a faster timeframe.

Thursday’s orders kick off an intense regulatory process that will play out over the next several months at each RTO/ISO, at FERC, and in state capitals.

What did FERC do?

FERC issued a series of what are called “show cause” orders under Section 206 of the Federal Power Act (FPA), which gives FERC the authority to investigate the existing rates and practices of utilities subject to its jurisdiction (including RTOs/ISOs) and, if found unjust and unreasonable, to order that new rates and practices be established in their place. Through these orders, FERC is requiring the RTOs/ISOs to closely examine their existing market rules and interconnection policies and procedures to determine whether they efficiently and reliably integrate large load customers, and if not, to develop and implement reforms on an expediated basis.

FERC’s orders specify that RTOs/ISOs must have in place frameworks for interconnecting and integrating large load customers that address five core sets of requirements (which FERC calls “categories of reforms”):

1. Each RTO/ISO must establish clear transmission service application study rules for large loads. FERC preliminarily defines large loads to include those over 50 MW, located at a single site (behind one or more points of interconnection), that interconnects to the transmission system at a voltage level higher than 69 kV. FERC states that these rules must include an application process that accepts applications for transmission service on a rolling basis, non-refundable application fees, readiness requirements (such as milestones or deposits), and data disclosures to guard against duplicative or speculative interconnection requests, as well as clear and consistent provisions to study operational and reliability risks stemming from the unique operational characteristics of large loads (including recent events highlighted by NERC, the nation’s reliability watchdog). Operational reliability requirements, including requirements for customers to provide operating data and install monitoring and communications equipment and provisions enabling an RTO/ISO to remotely disconnect large loads, where necessary, must be incorporated in pro forma transmission service contracts. FERC also says study processes should take no more than 60-90 days to complete.

   1. Notably, FERC also requires that large load study procedures study, evaluate, and report on the ability to use advanced transmission technologies to satisfy large load transmission service needs. RTO/ISOs are required to evaluate use of these technologies (which include advanced conductors, dynamic line ratings, and other software and hardware solutions) without the customer requesting that it do so, and to issue a detailed study report if traditional technologies are chosen instead.

2. To guard against the potential for costs to serve new large loads to be inappropriately shifted to other customers, FERC states that RTOs/ISOs must put adequate safeguards in place, including new cost recovery agreements with minimum financial contributions and financial security provisions to ensure new large loads timely pay the costs of transmission facilities needed to serve them. In addition, to ensure that states can allocate the costs of large load-driven transmission projects to large load customers, FERC requires RTOs/ISOs to provide what it says is “unprecedented” enhanced transparency of transmission upgrade costs incurred to serve new large loads.

3. RTOs/ISOs are also directed to establish clear rules to guide co-location of large loads with new generation and use of behind-the-meter generation to serve large loads. FERC says these rules should include procedures for how customers using co-located or behind-the-meter generation can request transmission service at a level below the output of the generation resource to recognize that part of its output is dedicated to serving the large load. Importantly, FERC preliminarily finds that all RTOs/ISOs should adopt the same new transmission services that it ordered PJM Interconnection, L.L.C. to develop last year. FERC also states that customers using co-located or behind-the-meter generation should share fully (on a gross, rather than net, consumption basis) in certain grid costs (namely ancillary services like frequency regulation and black start).

4. With respect to large load flexibility—i.e., the ability of a large load customer to adjust grid consumption or other take steps to alleviate grid strain or reduce the need for new infrastructure—FERC concludes that new transmission services must be available to reflect the fact that large loads may use the system differently and that certain large loads are willing and able to limit their use of transmission under certain circumstances. In this regard, FERC repeats its preliminary finding that all RTOs/ISOs should be required to adopt certain transmission services it ordered PJM to develop last year.

5. Finally, FERC requires RTOs/ISOs to develop pathways for large load customers to bring their own new generation by requiring them to study new generation and large load interconnections together in cases where the customer intends to be served by a new generation resource that is “electrically proximate” to its facility. This study process must allow the new generator to commit to limit its output to match the consumption of the large load to minimize impact on the broader transmission grid. FERC says this new study procedure is needed to avoid costly transmission network upgrades that existing generator interconnection processes would otherwise trigger for the customer’s proposed generation resource. FERC points to the Southwest Power Pool’s High-Impact Large Load Generation Assessment process as a model but stops short of making a finding that this approach should be adopted in all RTOs/ISOs.

What happens next?

FERC’s orders set several upcoming deadlines:

• Each RTO/ISO must respond to FERC within 60 days (Monday, August 17). In their responses, the RTOs/ISOs must either explain why their current rules and procedures remain just and reasonable without making the change FERC discusses in the order, or what specific changes to their rules and procedures would best address the five categories of reforms.

• Interested members of the public may submit comments on the RTO/ISO responses within 30 days of the date they are filed (likely to land on Wednesday, September 16). This is the first opportunity for customers, solution providers, and other stakeholders to provide FERC with input on the actions it should require RTOs/ISOs to take on the five categories of reform identified.

• RTOs/ISOs may also request an abeyance from the requirements of FERC’s order directed to them within 45 days (Monday, August 3). FERC states that it will consider an abeyance, of up to 90 additional days, to allow an RTO/ISO to work through their stakeholder processes to develop proactive filings (under Section 205 of the Federal Power Act) to address the issues raised in the order. Abeyance requests must have a “robust description” of the content of a future filing, and a “reasoned and specific” explanation of when the filing will be made.

• FERC also required RTOs/ISOs to submit informational reports within 30 days (Monday, July 20) explaining how they intend to ensure that adequate generation will be available to serve existing and new large loads, including a description of any stakeholder discussions ongoing regarding the RTO/ISO’s resource adequacy processes and markets.

What are the implications of FERC’s actions?

FERC’s orders appear to deftly thread the needle between the needs of large load customers (especially fast emerging data centers) for better defined pathways to faster grid interconnection and speed to power, on the one hand, and growing public concerns about the potential for large load growth to increase electricity costs for everyone else on the other. As a result, they’ve received almost universal praise from across the political spectrum thus far. FERC also carefully balanced state concerns that its response to the ANOPR would intrude on their authority, drawing clear jurisdictional lines requested by state regulators and prioritizing additional transparency they need to allocate large load-driven transmission costs to those customers via large load tariffs and contracts.

That said, FERC’s directives in each category of reform remain relatively broad, leaving the RTOs/ISOs with significant latitude in how they interpret and propose to implement them. Each RTO/ISO will initiate resource-intensive stakeholder processes to develop these implementation details, creating challenges for large load customers and solutions providers to track and influence their outcomes.

Those outcomes will, however, have important implications not just for new large load customers like data centers and advanced manufacturing facilities, but also for the growing supply chains serving them. For example, how RTOs/ISOs and FERC ultimately craft operational reliability requirements will impact not just data center operators but also suppliers of control systems, communications infrastructure, and cooling equipment, to name just a few. The ultimate implementation of reforms to support use of co-location arrangements and behind-the-meter generation will determine new market opportunities for suppliers of co-located, on-site, and flexible power solutions to large loads, while the details of transmission service reforms to accommodate large load flexibility will have implications for Artificial Intelligence (AI) and software providers developing flexibility tools and solutions. How RTOs/ISOs execute FERC’s requirement that they proactively examine use of advanced transmission technologies will have obvious impacts on the scope of market opportunity created for grid efficiency software providers and advanced conductor manufacturers.

Given FERC’s interpretation of the limits of its jurisdiction, the announced reforms to develop clear roadmaps for large load interconnection and protect existing customers will largely be utilized by load-serving utilities who obtain transmission service on behalf of new large loads that they serve. However, “unbundled” retail customers who are permitted under state law to obtain transmission service and wholesale power supply from third parties can also take advantage of these reforms. These customers may ultimately find they have the clearest path to interconnection under these reforms, since they will not have the potential commercial friction and delay of a load-serving entity acting as their proxy.

Finally, it should be noted that FERC’s actions apply only to RTOs/ISOs at this time, leaving the remainder of the country (primarily the Southeast and West) with the status quo. RTOs/ISOs serve two-thirds of the nation’s electricity customers, so the impact of FERC’s orders will be extensive. Nonetheless, FERC may soon be called upon to extend its announced reforms to non-RTO/ISO transmission utilities, where large load customers face similar uncertainty with regard to the pathways for interconnection, and where existing customers face the same concerns regarding potential cost shifting risks and the transparency of large load-driven transmission costs.

New White Paper: Federal Transmission Pricing in an Era of Load Growth

The Electricity Customer Alliance, in partnership with Grid Strategies and Americans for a Clean Energy Grid (ACEG), has released Federal Transmission Pricing Volume 2: Options for Ensuring Affordability and Reliability in an Era of High Load Growth. The white paper examines how regulators, grid operators, utilities, and policymakers can address growing transmission investment needs as electricity demand increases from data centers, advanced manufacturing, and other large loads. The report explores policy options to improve transparency, strengthen coordination between state and federal regulators, align costs with beneficiaries, and protect existing customers from unfair cost shifts while maintaining reliability and supporting economic growth.

Congressional Hearings to Note

House Natural Resources Committee Hearing (Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee)

• Title: Beneath the Surface: Earth MRI and America’s Resource Potential

• Date: Thursday, June 25– 10:00 am ET

• Witnesses: TBA

House Energy and Commerce Committee Markup (Energy Subcommittee)

• Title: Markup of Eight Bills on Electricity and Pipeline Safety

• Date: Wednesday, June 24 – 2:00 pm ET

• Items to be Considered:

  • H.R. 9332, Load Forecasting Enhancement Act (Reps. Balderson and Menendez)

  • H.R. 9339, Affordable Innovation for the Grid Act (Rep. Harshbarger and Mullin)

  • H.R. 9335, Advanced Transmission to Reduce Rates Act (Rep. Goldman)

  • H.R. 9340, Ratepayer Protection Act (Reps. Evans (CO) and Castor)

  • H.R. 6633, High-Capacity Grid Act (Rep. Fedorchak)

  • H.R. 6529, Protecting Families from AI Data Center Energy Costs Act (Rep. Landsman)

  • H.R. 2986, Expediting Generator Interconnection Procedures Act of 2025 (Rep. Castor)

  • H.R. 9338, Pipeline Safety Authorization Act of 2026 (Rep. Weber)

In This Issue…

• Congressional Update: Permitting Reform, Appropriations, NDAA, and Energy Infrastructure Priorities

• Deep Dive: States Advance New Frameworks for AI Infrastructure and Data Center Development

• Aspen State Policy Convening Highlights Need for Greater Coordination on Emissions Reporting and Verified Gas Markets

• Energize America 2030 North Carolina Policy Lab

• Looking Ahead: Michigan Customer Affordability Roundtable

Congressional Update: Permitting Reform, Appropriations, NDAA, and Energy Infrastructure Priorities

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In This Issue…

• Future Market Design and Governance Join Cost Allocation and Rising Prices as PJM Flashpoints

• House E&C Energy Subcommittee Hearing on “Wires, Rates, and States: Permitting Transmission for Reliable and Affordable Power”

• New Congressional Research Service (CRS) on Data Centers

• Congressional Hearings to Note

Future Market Design and Governance Join Cost Allocation and Rising Prices as PJM Flashpoints

PJM Interconnection, the largest grid operator in the United States and an epicenter of data center-driven demand growth, continues to command an outsized portion of the attention of policymakers, industry participants, and customers of all shapes and sizes. Disputes over the potential impact of data centers on electricity prices, who pays for new transmission and generation infrastructure, and how to rapidly procure new generation continue to expand by the week. In addition, though, PJM and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) have also raised more fundamental questions about the future of PJM’s market design, who should have primary responsibility for ensuring reliability, and whether PJM’s governance and stakeholder processes are well-suited to meet the challenges the region faces.

First, an update on the ever-increasing disputes over rising power and transmission costs in the region. PJM’s Independent Market Monitor (IMM) reported that power prices had risen sharply in the first quarter of 2026, with the total cost of wholesale power rising almost 76% when compared to the first quarter of 2025. The consumer cost of grid congestion alone rose 300%. In addition, the Maryland Office of the People’s Counsel (the residential ratepayer advocate for the state) filed a new complaint at FERC, asserting that Maryland ratepayers were unfairly assigned $2 billion in transmission costs caused by data center growth in other states. The complaint seeks a FERC order requiring significant modifications to PJM’s methods for allocating the costs of regionally planned transmission, changes that could have ripple effects for cost allocation methods in other regions and for transmission buildout.

Alongside these growing controversies, PJM issued a new white paper, Powering Reliability Through Market Design, marking the first step in the broader examination of long-term market reform the grid operator promised and the PJM Governors and National Energy Dominance Council (NEDC) demanded in principles released earlier this year. The report paints a stark picture of rising electricity demand, constrained generation supply, and political backlash over consumer costs creating a confidence and credibility challenge for PJM’s existing market structures. The report outlines three potential paths forward: a “Stabilized Markets” model built around longer-term capacity commitments (achieved through bilateral contracts or a longer-term centralized market); a “Differential Reliability” construct that would allow customers or states to receive varying levels of reliability of service based on their willingness to pay; and an “Energy Market Transition” model emphasizing real-time energy and ancillary service pricing over traditional forward capacity constructs.

The paper also includes some candid observations. For example, PJM notes that scarcity pricing intended to incentivize new generation investment has instead triggered political intervention, including auction delays and price caps, creating what the report calls a “credibility trap” for market participants. PJM also, importantly, acknowledges that the market design changes contemplated will have implications for regional governance and the stakeholder process; in particular, each of the three paths forward will require increased alignment with and among the PJM states.

FERC Chairman Laura Swett increased pressure on PJM leadership and doubled down the governance question during the organization’s annual meeting. She warned that the region is in a “make-it-or-break-it year” for market credibility and reliability and even posed the question of whether PJM has “grown too big to function.” Swett announced that FERC will convene a technical conference to look at these governance and stakeholder reform questions, signaling growing federal scrutiny of PJM’s decision-making processes and structure amidst already intense scrutiny of its interconnection timelines and ability to quickly respond to escalating electricity demand tied to AI infrastructure and large-load growth.

Congress will no doubt be paying attention. The question of Regional Transmission Organization (RTO) governance is of growing interest to members in both chambers, and FERC’s technical conference will only heighten that interest. This summer could mark the start of long-awaited fundamental reforms to the governance of PJM and other RTOs to give customers and states a greater role in regional market decision-making. That will require increased customer and state engagement in these policy debates now.

House Energy & Commerce Committee Energy Subcommittee Hearing

“Wires, Rates, and States: Permitting Transmission for Reliable and Affordable Power”

The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy held a hearing examining transmission development, grid reliability, and electricity affordability amid rapidly rising power demand and mounting pressure on the U.S. grid. Members and witnesses broadly agreed that substantial transmission expansion and grid modernization will be necessary to maintain reliability, support economic growth, and accommodate large new loads such as AI data centers. The hearing’s primary divide centered on how much authority should remain with states versus the federal government in transmission siting, planning, and cost allocation.

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In This Issue…

• House Energy & Commerce Committee Energy Subcommittee Legislative Hearing on “AI and the Grid: Meeting Growing Power Demand While Protecting Ratepayers”

• House Energy & Natural Resources Committee Energy & Mineral Resources Subcommittee Hearing on “Powering the 21st Century with American Copper”

• Administration Memos Prioritizing Grid Infrastructure Development and Supply Chain

House Energy & Commerce Committee Energy Subcommittee Legislative Hearing

“AI and the Grid: Meeting Growing Power Demand While Protecting Ratepayers”

The House Energy & Commerce Committee Energy Subcommittee held a hearing on Wednesday, April 29th, to review seven legislative proposals aimed at managing AI-driven electricity demand while protecting ratepayers. This was a key step in a deliberate strategy to counter the politically sensitive narrative that data centers drive up household electricity costs, while also advancing near-term reforms ahead of more contentious transmission and permitting debates.

The Electricity Customer Alliance submitted a letter thanking the Committee for holding the hearing and outlining key considerations for policymakers. This input was particularly important given the absence of a large load customer perspective among the witnesses, despite multiple instances where Committee members highlighted the need for that viewpoint. The moment underscores the role ECA plays in representing large load customers at the center of these policy discussions, as their investment decisions and demand profiles are foundational to many of the legislative proposals under consideration.

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In This Issue…

• Spotlight on expectations for FERC’s ANOPR action and clashes over backstop auctions and grid investments

• Customer-driven perspectives on electricity affordability and grid investment from New Jersey stakeholders

• Senate ENR discussion on rising power demand, cost allocation, and near-term grid solutions

• House E&C examination of DOE’s FY27 budget and the shift toward reliability, AI-driven demand, and national security priorities

Spotlight on FERC: ANOPR Action Coming in June as New Clashes Over Backstop Auctions and Who Can Invest in the Grid Emerge

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) announced last week that it would act in June of this year on the Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANOPR) on interconnection of large loads to the transmission grid sent to it by the Department of Energy (DOE) last year, two months after the April 30^th deadline set by DOE. In announcing this delay, FERC pushed back on any notion that it has sat idle, stating that it has made “meaningful progress toward addressing the urgent and important problems identified by” DOE. It points to its orders directing PJM to develop new transmission and interconnection services to accommodate co-location of large loads with generation resources and approving SPP’s new large load and generator interconnection procedures aimed at speeding the connection of both new large loads and new generation to serve them.

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In This Issue…

CERAWeek, one of the premier global gatherings of energy, industry, and policy leaders, was a highly productive week of conversations with leaders and members of the Natural Gas Innovation Network (NGIN) actively participating in and helping to shape key discussions. CERAWeek underscored a clear shift toward solution-oriented dialogue focused on balancing environmental and economic goals while advancing both speed and sustainability. Across sessions, the policy focus centered on affordability and “speed to power” as demand continues to rise. At the same time, concerns emerged around community reception to new infrastructure, particularly data centers, and the uncertain implications of geopolitical tensions. The strong presence of hyperscalers and AI supply chain companies reinforced continued investment momentum, highlighting a growing opportunity for coordinated, state-level action. NGIN came out of CERAWeek already working with partners to help align stakeholders and advance practical solutions for the next steps towards fast, affordable, sustainable power.

The Landscape

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In this issue:

• ECA Roundtable on Flexibility, hosted with Enchanted Rock

• AI Leaders Breakfast with E&C Chair Brett Guthrie

• AI-SCA Capitol Hill Fly-In with industry and policymakers

• AI-SCA & NEMA Letter Supporting the VET Act

• Looking Ahead to CERAWeek: panel discussion and NGIN convening

Bipartisan Policy Roundtable: Redefining Load Flexibility for Large Load Growth & Customer Affordability

The Electricity Customer Alliance (ECA) convened a bipartisan policy roundtable in Washington, DC on Redefining Load Flexibility for Large Load Growth and Customer Affordability, with support from Enchanted Rock. The discussion brought together hyperscale data center operators, industrial customers, flexibility solution providers, utilities, state energy officials, regulators, and federal policymakers to examine how flexibility must evolve as electricity demand accelerates.

Participants agreed that the prevailing narrow definition of load flexibility primarily focused on curtailing customer demand will not scale with structural load growth from AI infrastructure, onshoring and expanding manufacturing, and electrification. Load flexibility must be redefined to encourage broader technology-enabled solutions that provide value to customers and the system.

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Here is an excerpt from President Trump’s speech:

And many Americans are also concerned that energy demand from AI data centers could unfairly drive up their electric utility bills. Tonight, I’m pleased to announce that I have negotiated the new ratepayer protection pledge. You know what that is? We’re telling the major tech companies that they have the obligation to provide for their own power needs. They can build their own power plants as part of their factory, so that no one’s prices will go up and, in many cases, prices of electricity will go down for the community, and very substantially then.

This is a unique strategy never used in this country before. We have an old grid. It could never handle the kind of numbers, the amount of electricity that’s needed. So I’m telling them they can build their own plant, they’re going to produce their own electricity. It will ensure the company’s ability to get electricity, while at the same time lowering prices of electricity for you and could be very substantial. For all of these cities and towns, you’re going to see some good things happen over the next number of years. - President Trump, State of the Union, February 24, 2026

What Could Happen Next

In the near term, we expect the White House to convene hyperscalers, utilities, and grid operators, potentially as early as next week, to frame a voluntary commitment or statement around “bring your own power” generation and ratepayer protection. Details are likely to develop over the coming weeks and months through agency processes and stakeholder engagement. Some groundwork is already underway.

Role for FERC

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) will play a central role through ongoing work on transmission planning, large load interconnection, and removing barriers to co-location and on-site generation. FERC’s recent actions to require PJM Interconnection to develop new transmission services needed to support co-location and its approval of Southwest Power Pool’s plan to accelerate connection of large loads and power plants being developed to serve them provide a good foundation for achieving the goals of the President’s pledge, but more needs to be done to expand these approaches nationwide and break down additional barriers to data centers bringing their own power. The Department of Energy’s proposed ANOPR submitted to FERC provides it with a foundation to further address data center load growth and cost responsibility on a nationwide basis by providing new pathways for connection to the transmission system. However, FERC’s jurisdiction to implement those pathways will be challenged by the states.

Role for the Department of Energy

We expect the Department of Energy to support technical analysis, innovation on firm generation and storage, and stakeholder convenings focused on reliability and planning. The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) will contribute reliability assessments and technical expertise as large loads expand and is currently contemplating a new framework of requirements on data centers to ensure that their operations do not compromise reliability.

Role for Congress

As noted above, FERC has broad jurisdiction, especially as it relates to wholesale power markets, but truly unlocking the flexible power supply solutions envisioned by President Trump may require a role for Congress.

There are several steps that Congress could advance to complement the Executive actions that are likely to follow.

Planning: Congress could direct FERC to work with states to harmonize load forecasting and long-term grid planning to support economic growth, improve reliability, and lower electricity costs.

Technology: Congress could direct FERC and NERC to assess how AI and high-performance computing can improve grid planning, accelerate interconnection studies, and enhance system modeling beyond data center applications.

Flexibility: Congress could direct FERC to remove barriers preventing large electricity customers from developing on-site generation to reduce the strain on the grid. Private investment in co-location, microgrids, storage, and wholesale market participation can strengthen reliability, modernize infrastructure, and protect ratepayers from unnecessary cost increases.

Grid Expansion: Congress could establish a voluntary permitting framework at FERC allowing state governors to nominate high value transmission projects for expedited federal permits and limited judicial review. Expanding high voltage transmission is essential to deliver affordable, reliable power where it is needed most for economic growth and national security.

What About the States?

State policy will also be critical to achieving the objectives in the President’s pledge to unleash “bring your own power” arrangements. State utility franchise service laws and regulatory structures often make bringing your own power very difficult, if not illegal. However, states are beginning to take action. Federal pressure to make “bring your own power” for data centers a reality will put a spotlight on these challenges, and states that allow data centers to shop for their own supplier or build their own resources on-site will have an advantage. FERC could convene the states to discuss these challenges and how federal and state regulators can collaborate to overcome them. As noted above, Congress could direct FERC to do just that.

Bottom line

The SOTU comments point to a policy direction centered on ratepayer protection, on-site power generation, and faster grid investment to manage AI-driven electricity demand. Early convenings, ongoing agency activity, and targeted congressional and state engagement could shape how this framework develops in the months ahead.

In this issue:

• GHG reporting insights from the NASEO Energy Policy Outlook Conference

• A candid, cross-sector discussion on state-level coordination of GHG reporting to drive investment and expand market access

• What recent FERC and NASEO hearings signal on permitting and grid planning

• A panel at the Incompas Policy Summit on using competition and abundance to drive energy innovation

• Hearings to watch this week

State-level Coordination of Natural Gas Markets and Metrics

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This issue brings you insights into the latest on the Trump Administration and bipartisan governors’ plan for PJM’s future, a new white paper on a customer-centric agenda for FERC, and key events coming up, including a testimony at an Environment & Public Works Committee hearing.

PJM in Focus for the Trump Administration, Governors, and FERC

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This issue brings you a quick look at growing local concerns about data centers, upcoming FERC priorities and possibilities, some insights into permitting reform in 2026 (spoiler: it’s still moving forward!), and a lookahead at CO2EFFICIENT’s activities and expectations for the next few months.

Data Centers: Addressing Rising Local Opposition

Frustration is rising as communities grapple with the rapid expansion of data centers. The concerns are often centered around opaque siting decisions, land-use and resource conflicts, and rising electricity costs, rather than resistance to technology itself. Understanding the sources of community concern, and the local benefits and broader electricity system improvements these projects can have when paired with thoughtful policy, is essential to addressing this opposition and avoiding broader social license risks for the industry.

Data centers can indeed provide powerful local, regional, and national economic benefits, as well as national security benefits. While data centers use large amounts of electricity, they are also a key enabler for unlocking long-overdue investment in an aging power grid that has seen little system-wide modernization in decades. Without data centers, existing customers would foot the bill for those long-needed investments on their own. The emergence of AI companies as key grid players is also paving the way for a new wave of innovation and optimization that can support new generation, microgrids, and targeted upgrades that expand supply, improve reliability, and help lower and stabilize costs for surrounding communities. They also drive local economic activity through specialized construction and operational jobs while long-term strengthening of local tax bases. Additionally, data centers are increasingly important to national and economic security, anchoring domestic AI infrastructure and protecting sensitive data in a competitive global environment.

Policymakers and industry leaders have an opportunity amidst growing attention on data centers to ensure these benefits are clearly articulated and locally realized. Capturing those benefits and earnestly addressing local concerns requires thoughtful policy action to bring power to these new electricity customers, protecting existing customers from cost shifts in the near-term while prioritizing grid integration in the long-term to capture system-wide cost and innovation benefits. Greater transparency about these benefits and opportunities, and how policy can facilitate them, is critical to public acceptance.

Permitting Reform: Still Alive

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Welcome back from the holidays, and welcome to the CO2EFICIENT Substack. With the Senate back in session today and the House returning tomorrow, things on the Hill will be kicking off quickly. Look below for highlights from the last two weeks, as well as a deep dive into the developing public and political narratives around data center power.

Top Policy Highlights

Funding Deadlines Approach: With both House and Senate leadership determined to pass funding bills ahead of the January 30 deadline, House and Senate appropriators released a three-bill funding package that covers the departments of Energy, Commerce, Interior, and Justice, along with a few other science and environmental programs. The House Committee on Rules will be meeting today to discuss the text, and there may still be some nuances to hammer out. Budget hard-liners are pushing for a reconciliation bill and considering options to offset the impact of now-expired Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies. More moderate Republicans, or those who are looking at midterms in November, are concerned about the idea of a bill passing just based on party lines, after the political risks they took on the megabill last summer. The House and Senate are also scheduled to vote on a clean three-year extension of ACA subsidies this week, which will likely impact further budget discussions.

Attention to Chip Sales: Two chip-related bills were introduced in the House, the AI OVERWATCH Act and the RESTRICT Act. These bills, one Republican and one Democrat, aim to codify restrictions on chip sales to foreign adversaries and to advance domestic availability of chips.

Permitting Push and Pull: As several bills regarding permitting reform make their way through the Senate, with more on the way, partisan disagreements may slow down progress. Democrats are pushing to restore renewable projects before agreeing to permitting reform, and Republicans have responded by reopening the idea of removing the filibuster.

Tension Over Offshore Wind: 2025 saw the cancelation of many offshore wind projects, but the conversation is continuing. Democrats are trying to include the programs in permitting conversations, to address the rapidly-growing energy demand, and Dominion Energy filed a lawsuit against the federal government for suspending their Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project.

Carbon Capture Credit Guidance: The Treasury Department provided interim guidance on how companies can use the 45Q carbon storage tax credit for the 2025 year. The guidance does note that the Treasury is looking for a new monitoring and verification standards solution after proposing to end the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program.

Deep Dive: Public and Political Challenges to AI Continue

Several headlines over the holiday period demonstrated the continued tension between the need to support AI infrastructure development and public backlash over the AI energy footprint. Several local communities have opposed new data centers, citing the electricity usage and costs as well as job reductions. Policymakers at all levels are grappling with how to balance a strained grid and economic incentives data centers provide.

The Trump Administration is focusing on keeping coal and oil available, while also investing in nuclear power solutions. Democrats are raising concerns about the loss of renewable programs, especially offshore wind, considering this increased energy need. Federal agencies like DOE and FERC are focusing on more specific and complex grid solutions, like load forecasting, co-location, and interconnection, to address power availability and reliability for all electricity customers.

With midterms approaching and the plethora of attention on AI, the topic is quickly becoming more partisan, creating solution silos around more hot-button issues. This is why CO2EFFICIENT is working alongside policy makers to develop durable, bipartisan, integrated solutions which increase grid reliability, protect affordability, and advance innovation.

Legislative and Executive Actions to Watch

SPEED Act (H.R. 4776)

• Topic: NEPA reform and permit timelines

• Status: Passed House with amendments

PERMIT Act (H.R. 3898)

• Topic: State authority under Clean Water Act

• Status: Passed House

Reliable Power Act (H.R. 3616)

• Topic: Empowers FERC on reliability reviews

• Status: Passed House

AI OVERWATCH Act (H.R. 6878)

• Topic: Prioritizes domestic chip sales over foreign chip sales

• Status: Introduced

RESTRICT Act

• Topic: Blocks H200 chip sales to foreign adversaries

• Status: Introduced

  ---

Congress advances bipartisan permitting bills: The House passed the SPEED Act and PERMIT Act with some Democratic support. Both bills aim to streamline federal approvals and limit project delays. Negotiations with the Senate are expected to intensify in 2026.

FERC clears co-location pathway to speed power to AI: The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) ordered the nation’s largest grid operator, PJM Interconnection, to develop a suite of new transmission services and interconnection rules to facilitate the ability of data centers to be co-located with power generators. FERC’s Chairman and several Commissioners said the order will accelerate the connection of data centers to the grid while shielding existing customers from cost and reliability impacts.

AI and grid affordability and reliability continue to be a top political issue: Several U.S. senators are probing data centers about their energy use and what that means for the electricity costs paid by ordinary customers. Seven tech firms received formal letters with concerned questions about local utility rates. Meanwhile, Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Democrats blamed Administration policies for driving up U.S. electricity bills.

New E3 study shows grid investment beats inaction for ratepayers: Energy + Environmental Economics (E3) released a new study which found that building clean energy infrastructure and transmission lowers long-term electricity costs more than maintaining the status quo. The study warns that failure to act could lead to up to 35% higher ratepayer costs over time.

AI-SCA SPEED Act Statement

The AI Supply Chain Alliance congratulates the House of Representatives on the bipartisan passage of the Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development (SPEED) Act, a critical step toward cutting costly permitting delays for energy, manufacturing, and construction projects. The collaborative, bipartisan process in the House demonstrates a shared recognition that America needs a more predictable, efficient regulatory framework to build the infrastructure required for AI leadership, economic growth, and job creation. We applaud House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Bruce Westerman and Rep. Jared Golden for their leadership and collaboration, and we look forward to working with the Senate to build on this momentum and advance comprehensive permitting reform into law.

Executive Branch Update

Last week, COEFFICIENT coalition leaders met with the White House’s National Energy Dominance Council (NEDC) to discuss the urgent need to upgrade and expand the electric grid to support AI growth and broader economic development. NEDC officials outlined anticipated executive orders and administrative actions and invited continued engagement with the Administration in the new year. We expect the Trump Administration to take a more active role in electricity policy in the coming year, leveraging both executive authority and Congress, as affordability concerns and rising utility bills are poised to feature prominently in midterm election-year debates.

Deep Dive: Grid Investment Debate Accelerates

With electricity demand surging from data center development, onshoring and expansion of manufacturing and industry, and continued steady electrification and growth in consumer demands, Washington is scrambling to upgrade the grid and address affordability concerns of customers. This week saw the House pass the SPEED Act, a high-profile permitting reform bill aimed at streamlining NEPA reviews and preventing future presidents from canceling project permits. The measure is a step toward long-sought permitting certainty, but last-minute GOP concessions to anti-renewable factions jeopardized clean energy support and raised bipartisan concerns.

Meanwhile, federal and state regulators are exploring ways to speed up power delivery to high-load sites. Louisiana’s Public Service Commission adopted a “lightning speed” policy to fast-track utility service for data centers, and PJM reported another capacity auction with historically high prices—both signs of mounting pressures on the grid around the country. FERC’s new ruling on co-located data centers in PJM aims to simplify one path forward for powering data centers, while bipartisan Senate proposals are focusing on codifying timelines and accountability for federal agencies in permitting new infrastructure needed to serve them.

FERC is also ramping up its push to address grid capacity and power supply challenges with its expansive directives to PJM to create entirely new transmission services and interconnection rules to ease co-location of data centers with power plants. CO2EFFICIENT’s Electricity Customer Alliance told the Associated Press FERC’s order demonstrates the agency’s planned focus on the issues around fast-growing power demand and the need for transmission and market reforms. The order suggests FERC is likely to aggressively move forward in 2026 to implement similar grid reforms nationwide in response to the Secretary of Energy’s Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on interconnection of large loads. Concerns about affordability and bill impacts to existing customers and jurisdictional questions will create headwinds for FERC, however.

Legislative and Executive Actions to Watch

SPEED Act (H.R. 4776)

• Topic: NEPA reform and permit timelines

• Status: Passed House with amendments

PERMIT Act (H.R. 3898)

• Topic: State authority under Clean Water Act

• Status: Passed House

Reliable Power Act

• Topic: Empowers FERC on reliability reviews

• Status: Passed House

Newsletter Changes

Thank you for joining us in our inaugural year of Actionable Intelligence. When we return after the holidays on January 5th, it will be to our Substack, sending all future editions through that medium.

Don’t worry, we’re transferring our subscribers directly, so you’ll still get an email in your inbox each Monday, no action necessary. If you would prefer to read via the app, you will need a Substack account, but Substack will walk you through that process when you open the app.

Trends to Watch

Transmission as affordability strategy: E3’s new study frames grid expansion as essential to controlling ratepayer costs.

Permitting becomes bipartisan: Floor votes on reform bills show a political opening heading into 2026.

Digital infrastructure strains local grids: AI and crypto growth are forcing state regulators to rethink electricity economics.

Upcoming Deadlines

December 31: ACA premium subsidies expire unless renewed

January 30: Federal funding deadline (shutdown risk)

This issue brings you Powering AI in 2026, healthcare and defense closing out 2025, holiday schedules and newsletter changes.

Healthcare and Defense: Closing out 2025

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Congress Under Deadlines: With the holidays approaching, Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies set to expire on December 31st, and the current Continuing Resolution expiring on January 30th, Congress is working to finalize several year-end floor votes. The ACA vote, promised as part of shutdown negotiations, looks likely to fall along party lines. Intra-party divisions are putting pressure on this and other measures, including a potential appropriations minibus and the National Defense Authorization Act for 2026 (NDAA).

Nuclear Developments: NDAA full, bipartisan language (House and Senate) was released yesterday, and includes language regarding advanced nuclear reactors and establishing a working group for nuclear deployment. Additionally, Ho Nieh has been confirmed to join the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).

“All of the Above” Power Sources: Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) released their New Energy Outlook for 2025, which projects electricity demand from U.S. data centers to be 36 percent higher than previous forecasts. The need for fast, accessible, affordable, reliable power is clear, but conversations around generation sources are politically fraught and create uncertainty for projects. Despite complications, the power market is forging ahead, with conversations happening around liquid fuels, oil and gas permitting, gas-electric coordination, continued support for renewables despite headwinds, nuclear opportunities, and even geothermal developments.

Emissions and Affordability: As the House E&C committee marked up and reported several energy bills (most of which focused on home energy use) this week, the conversation centered around efficiency, affordability, and emissions.

Perception Headwinds for AI: As we mentioned in our previous Policy Insights post, AI is facing certain narrative headwinds, and they picked up this week. Some conversations focused on maintaining grid security in the face of AI, while others are preparing litigation toolkits to challenge data center projects. Other conversations focused on user protections or international security concerns like in the Chip Security Act. Despite these, data centers continue to have champions, including Secretary Wright, who emphasized the power data centers have to lower electricity costs. Additional voices are needed, like in the AI Supply Chain Alliance, to shift the narrative and demonstrate the value data centers are capable of bringing, lowering local electricity costs, creating economic hubs, and keeping America competitive in the global AI race.

Deep Dive: Need for Speed to Power

U.S. electricity demand is rising rapidly, not just from AI data centers, but also from electrification and industrial growth. The National Governors Association recently announced an effort to “lead the charge” on building America’s infrastructure, after having recently sent a letter to House and Senate leaders on energy permitting priorities. The list of needed reforms includes changes to the siting process for interstate electric transmission lines, which has been a key stumbling block in past negotiations. We believe that NGA’s proposals — including the ability for a group of states to nominate transmission projects for expedited FERC approval — could “reset” the transmission debate and help unlock broader permitting reforms in Congress.

In the House and Senate, permitting reform is gaining steam: the SPEED Act and PERMIT Act aim to mitigate delays, and legislators are negotiating language around “permit certainty,” which would limit the executive branch’s ability to revoke approval for permitted projects. The National Petroleum Council has also proposed comprehensive permitting changes. In the Midwest, MISO is advancing studies to accelerate grid interconnection for key projects.

Meanwhile, the Energy Information Administration is modernizing its tools and launching new surveys to track energy use, transmission, and data center demand more accurately. According to a new study, flexible arrangements are emerging as an effective on ramp for large loads within our existing grid. Pennsylvania seems poised to be a case study in facilitating data center growth, combining natural gas capacity, state incentives, and private investment to become a national data center hub.

The bottom line: Permitting reform and smarter grid policy aren’t optional. They’re essential to meet surging demand with speed, flexibility, and reliability while maintaining affordability.

Legislative and Executive Actions to Watch

SPEED Act (H.R. 4776)

• Topic: NEPA reform and permit timelines

• Status: House floor vote expected in mid-December

PERMIT Act (H.R. 3898)

• Topic: State authority under Clean Water Act

• Status: Passed committee; floor vote planned

NDAA 2026

• Topic: Defense + nuclear innovation provisions

• Status: Final text agreed by House and Senate

Hearings to Note

House Science, Space, and Technology Committee Hearing (Energy Subcommittee)

Genesis Mission: Prioritizing American Science and Technology Leadership | Wednesday, December 10 – 10:00 am ET | More Info

This issue provides an outlook on what to expect from Congress in December.

The Busy December Ahead

Congress faces a crowded agenda heading into the end of 2025 and even more deadlines before the end of January 2026. We are watching developments in healthcare, government funding, defense policy, permitting, and politics as the midterm elections approach.

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We are excited to share that Sens. Dave McCormick (R-PA), Ted Budd (R-NC), Chris Coons (D-DE), and Adam Schiff (D-CA) introduced the Liquid Cooling for AI Act of 2025 in the Senate this week. Companion legislation (H.R. 5332) was introduced in the House of Representatives by Reps. Jay Obernolte (R-CA) and Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) in September with broad bipartisan support, including several cosponsors:

• Rep. Sarah McBride (D-DE)

• Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA)

• Rep. Erin Houchin (R-IN)

• Rep. Eugene Simon Vindman (D-VA)

• Rep. Josh Harder (D-CA)

• Rep. Valerie P. Foushee (D-NC)

CO2EFFICIENT and the AI Supply Chain Alliance (AI-SCA) applaud Congress for this bipartisan, bicameral effort to prepare the U.S. to deploy sovereign AI at scale by directing a technology assessment that informs government-wide best practices for federal agencies to implement liquid cooling systems in AI facilities. Notably, this legislation requires no new spending. Instead, it:

• Directs the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to assess the research and development needs and conditions affecting liquid cooling utilization in data centers.

• Directs the Department of Energy (DOE) to evaluate GAO’s findings and submit a report to Congress with recommendations for liquid cooling and heat reuse R&D.

• Creates a Liquid Cooling Advisory Organization of industry experts to consult with federal agencies and establish government-wide best practices for liquid cooling in AI facilities.

As AI workloads expand and electricity demand from data centers surges, this bill takes a critical step in advancing energy-efficient, high-performance infrastructure solutions like liquid cooling. Show your support by visiting our LinkedIn post and engaging with or reposting it to raise awareness!

The SPEED Act

The House Natural Resources Committee advanced the SPEED Act, bipartisan NEPA reform legislation, signaling real momentum for permitting reform and interest in stronger permit certainty. For the AI ecosystem, a more predictable process is essential to build the energy, manufacturing, and construction infrastructure that enables U.S. AI leadership. The AI-SCA welcomed the vote as a constructive step toward a durable, bipartisan framework. We will be providing a more in-depth analysis in next week’s Policy Insights. If you don’t already receive that edition of Actionable Intelligence, you can subscribe to them via CO2EFFICIENT’s Substack to receive our biweekly features from policy experts breaking down activities and strategies across the Hill.

Department of Energy Reorganization

The Department of Energy announced a significant reorganization, removing several offices, including ones relating to renewable or clean energy, and adding new ones focused on artificial intelligence, critical minerals and fusion energy. The organization chart shows that the Grid Deployment Office and others like it have also been cut, though it has not yet been announced which functions will be realigned with which new offices. Sec. Wright told Reuters last week that DOE would focus on nuclear power plant funding and rebooting.

Comments on DOE Letter to FERC

As we mentioned in our Actionable Intelligence: Roundup a few weeks ago, DOE urged FERC to initiate rulemaking procedures and consider an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANOPR) with potential reforms for the timely and orderly interconnection of large loads, such as data centers. Senate Energy & Natural Resources leadership Sens. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Martin Heinrich (D-NM) sent a letter to FERC in support of the Administration’s emphasis on connecting data centers to interstate transmission grids.

The AI-SCA and Electricity Customer Alliance (ECA) each submitted comments to FERC regarding DOE’s letter. At a high level, both AI-SCA and ECA encouraged FERC to find ways to enable speed to power for electricity users in ways that promote affordability. In its comments, ECA laid out principles for FERC to consider when implementing procedures for large load interconnection to the transmission system to help facilitate greater clarity in load integration and forecasting, options for powering large loads like bring your own generation, and more holistic transmission planning to integrate large loads affordably and reliably. ECA’s comments also propose a framework for the Commission to take action while respecting state jurisdiction and avoiding slowing down interconnection processes that are working well now.

Responding to DOE Speed to Power RFI

ECA also submitted comments in response to DOE’s Speed to Power Request for Information (RFI). The comments highlighted the need for cost-effective high voltage transmission to meet growing demand from large loads. ECA urged DOE to consider a framework when selecting projects and using its authority to expand regional and interregional transmission capability and accelerating speed to power.

LNG Legislation Moving Forward

House lawmakers advanced two bipartisan LNG-related measures this week: Unlocking our Domestic LNG Potential Act of 2025 (H.R. 1949) and the REFINER Act (H.R. 3109). H.R. 1949 seeks to repeal restrictions on LNG exports, transferring authority from DOE to FERC regarding approvals for LNG exports. This consolidation could accelerate decisions, but negotiations are still ongoing about the reduced Executive Branch oversight. H.R 3109 directs the National Petroleum Council to study U.S. refining capacity. The study mandate aims to clarify constraints that affect fuel availability, pricing, and reliability.

Legislative and Executive Actions to Watch

Liquid Cooling for AI Act of 2025

• Topic: Data center efficiency; liquid cooling

• Status: Introduced in House and Senate; bipartisan support

SPEED Act (H.R. 4776)

• Topic: NEPA streamlining; permit certainty

• Status: Advanced from committee

Unlocking our Domestic LNG Potential Act of 2025 (H.R. 1949)

• Topic: LNG export approvals (DOE → FERC)

• Status: Passed House

REFINER Act (H.R. 3109)

• Topic: Refinery capacity study

• Status: Passed House

NRC Nomination — Ho Nieh

• Topic: NRC leadership

• Status: Confirmed 66-32

This issue includes a breakdown of PJM’s proposed process on new market rules and practices for large load customers, a readout of the Electricity Customer Alliance’s roundtable at NARUC’s Annual Meeting, and upcoming hearings to note.

PJM Proposal

Mid-Atlantic regional grid operator PJM and its stakeholders are reaching the final stage of a critical fast track process to develop new market rules and practices to address the resource adequacy and customer cost impacts of adding new large load customers like data centers to the grid. This week, the PJM Board of Managers will hear proposed solutions from PJM staff and stakeholders (both individually and in groups) and then vote to direct PJM to make to file market reforms at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) by the end of the year.

Read more

Shutdown Dynamics: The government shutdown has entered its forty-first day, but a deal is finally in sight. On Sunday, the Senate voted to advance a stopgap funding bill to reopen the government through January 30, along with three appropriations bills to fund key programs and agencies through the end of fiscal year 2026. These include the Department of Agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration, the Department of Veterans Affairs, certain military construction projects, and the operations of Congress.

The House must also approve the agreement, and the President must sign it before the government can officially reopen. Additional procedural steps and negotiations with the House are expected to take several more days.

As part of the deal, funds were authorized to rehire federal employees laid off during the shutdown and to provide back pay to those who missed a paycheck. Majority Leader Thune also agreed to hold a vote by mid-December on the expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies—a key Democratic demand that triggered the shutdown.

All Power Push: Last week brought action around a variety of generation sources. A bipartisan bill looks to extend IRA 45X tax credits for fusion components; the Administration advanced an $80B nuclear deployment partnership with Westinghouse; and DOE opened $100M for coal plant retrofits and gas co-firing. Together, these moves underscore parallel bets on building capacity, emerging technologies, and near-term reliability amid rising AI loads.

Climate Conversations: The UN agreed upon its first new methodology under the Paris Agreement, relating to methane emissions from landfill sites. U.S. participation in COP30 (which kicks off today in Brazil) has been pared back amid the shutdown, limiting even high-level, bipartisan presence. Some climate groups are re-centering on pragmatic wins in the areas of permitting and transmission to connect clean resources, manage costs, and keep decarbonization progress moving despite fiscal and geopolitical headwinds.

Trade and Data Center Components: Several updates came through this week on trade relating to key data center components. The Supreme Court will be reviewing President Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs. If it rules to limit the overall tariffs, sectoral tariffs (like Section 232) may stay in place. On the minerals front, the Department of Interior updated its critical minerals list to include, among others, potash, silicon, copper, silver, rhenium and lead.

On the Global AI Stage: At APEC, China proposed a Shanghai-based World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization to set governance norms and promote collaborative development—an appeal to the Global South and a bid to shape standards. While Western uptake is uncertain, the move raises competitive pressure on the United States to accelerate secure AI deployment, clarify export policy, and scale enabling infrastructure to avoid ceding rule-setting terrain.

Deep Dive: Permitting & Transmission Push

This past week, a variety of energy companies, customer groups, and think tanks visited a bipartisan set of Congressional offices to discuss the need for transmission policy reforms to be part of any permitting package this Congress. The need to prioritize interregional and regional transmission expansion (and avoid piecemeal local transmission) and reduce permitting hurdles to support economic growth and reduce customer costs were front-and-center. Electricity affordability was top of mind as utility costs, blamed in large part on data centers during the campaign, played a role in the outcome of the Virginia and New Jersey statewide elections. At the same time, transmission permitting barriers were at the top of the news in Maryland, as farmers and residents pushed back against a PJM transmission line that would cut through three counties. Electricity affordability and meeting demand growth from AI and expanded manufacturing are increasingly tied to the need for Congress to act on improved siting and permitting processes and better transmission planning.

Speeding up the connection of large loads like data centers and reshored manufacturing are a priority for the Administration, but its efforts will face headwinds from the states. Energy Secretary Chris Wright’s letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) requesting action on new rules to speed load interconnection is drawing fire from state regulators, who will consider a resolution at this week’s NARUC Annual Meeting condemning the proposal as an “unprecedented expansion of federal authority.” Comments on the Secretary’s proposal are due November 21.

PJM continues to be an epicenter of controversy on large load growth, reliability, and rising costs. Several members of Congress sent a letter to PJM last week requesting the company prioritize affordability and reliability for residential customers and accusing PJM of bending to the will of “well resourced” large stakeholders like data center developers. This comes as PJM and stakeholders continue to develop a framework for addressing large loads that would prioritize projects paired with dedicated generation in load and generator interconnection processes, strengthen load forecasting, and provide new tools for flexibility. We will be unpacking the proposals likely to advance in next week’s Policy Insights newsletter.

Upcoming Events

National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners Annual Meeting (November 9-12)

Jeff Dennis will be leading an Electricity Customer Alliance Affordability Roundtable, which will convene leaders from across sectors to examine the drivers of rising electricity costs and develop practical, customer-led policy solutions to ensure long-term affordability and competitiveness. (November 10)

Powering AI

Speed to Power is the competitive advantage in the global AI race. In this new industrial era, the winners will not simply be those who build the smartest models, but those who can power them at scale, at speed, and with resilience. Prometheus Hyperscale, one of our AI-SCA members, exemplifies that there are multiple paths to power: from grid innovation and private energy infrastructure to advanced cooling and compute optimization. The more an AI factory can pursue these paths simultaneously, the stronger its strategic position becomes. Below, we outline a policy blueprint designed to make these power pathways smoother, shorter, and more secure — accelerating the flow of energy that fuels intelligence itself.

Legislative Strategy

Electric load growth has tripled over the last decade and continues to accelerate. Yet the regulatory process for generation, transmission, interconnection, and permitting has increasingly become an obstacle rather than an enabler to grid expansion and modernization. CO2EFFICIENT has been developing a suite of bills below to help streamline these frameworks to build out a modern, reliable, affordable grid. These bills address:

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