The Ratepayer Protection Act comes to the House floor the week of September 14. It would have state regulators consider a federal standard letting utilities charge their biggest customers for the grid upgrades built to serve them.

The bill defines that customer: a nonresidential electricity consumer that operates a data center with a peak demand for electricity of at least 100 megawatts at a single facility.

Riot's Rockdale is 700 MW of developed capacity. Riot's own page calls it bitcoin mining and data center operations, and in its Q2 results it reported leasing 191 MW there to an AI lab at $9.1 billion over the initial term, plus 50 MW to AMD.

Neither the bill nor the CBO estimate says bitcoin or mining once. It does not have to.

The procedure matters. This goes up under suspension of the rules, which CBO describes as limited debate, all floor amendments prohibited, two-thirds to pass. The definition that arrives is the definition that passes.

The bill is defensible. If one site needs a new substation, the people who did not ask for it should not find it on their bill. Worth knowing which side of the line you are on before the vote rather than after.

Receipts

• CBO estimate, H.R. 9340, reported by House Energy and Commerce July 21 2026. The 100 MW definition, no federal budget effect.
• CBO suspension calendar, week of September 14 2026. Amendments prohibited, two-thirds to pass.
• Riot Platforms, Rockdale page. 700 MW developed capacity.
• Riot Platforms Q2 2026 results, August 10 2026. 191 MW AI lease at $9.1 billion, 50 MW to AMD.

At the time of this writing, bitcoin was $77,366 (Crypto.com, 5:33 PM ET, Sep 11).

Our full read: https://mempolitics.com/story/ratepayer-protection-act-100mw-data-center-2026-09-14/