Data centers must show costs and cannot hide bills in utility rates.
H.R. 10139 — Ratepayer Bill of Rights Act of 2026 · Filed by Henry Cuellar (D-TX) · 4 cosponsors · Introduced Aug 24, 2026 · Referred to committee
Your members of Congress
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What it does
The bill requires large data centers to disclose electricity and water use. They must show costs and public money received before they start. Data centers cannot shift costs to regular people's utility bills. Independent experts must check that water and power stay available for homes and farms. The bill creates a complaint process. People can get refunds if data centers break the rules.
Who it affects
Regular people who pay utility bills gain the right to know data center costs. Rural residents and farmers get protections against water loss and aquifer damage, with compensation and monitoring rights.
One thing to notice
The bill does not say who will pay for enforcement and complaint processing. Without funding, the disclosure and refund rights may not work.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
4 cosponsors: 4 Democrats.
- Aug 24, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Aug 24, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on Education and Workforce and House Committee on Energy and Commerce · Congress.gov: “Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Education and…”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- data centers — Large buildings that hold computers and use lots of electricity and water.
- utility bills — Bills people pay for electricity, water, or other services to their homes.
- disclose — To tell the public or make information known and visible.
- aquifer — Underground layer of rock that holds water used by wells and farms.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (5,633 characters) on Aug 29, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,206 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-09-17.
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