India, Sept. 17 -- The US House of Representatives on Wednesday overwhelmingly passed the Ratepayer Protection Act (RPA). It is a bipartisan bill designed to shield residential electricity customers from footing the bill for grid upgrades required by large data centers.

The legislation passed 417-3, making it the first major data center bill approved by the 119th Congress.

The proposal now moves to the Senate, where its future remains uncertain. If enacted, it would amend the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA) to require states to consider a federal standard ensuring that the largest data centers pay the full cost of new electricity infrastructure built specifically to serve them.

The proposal comes amid growing public conc...