FERC mulls new rules to oversee data-center grid connections

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said on April 16 that it would act by June 2026 on a rulemaking tied to large-load interconnections, a proceeding that has become a focal point for how AI-driven data centers connect to the grid. The docket, RM26-4-000, grew out of an October 2025 advance notice of proposed rulemaking initiated by the U.S. Secretary of Energy and asks FERC to consider reforms for the “timely, orderly, and equitable integration” of major new electrical loads into transmission systems. FERC said staff had reviewed more than 3,500 pages of public comments. The agency has also been addressing related questions in PJM and other markets as utilities and grid operators confront a wave of hyperscale demand. ### Why is FERC involved in data-center hookups at all? October 2025 put the issue formally in front of FERC when the Energy Department directed the commission to consider reforms for large-load integration under RM26-4-000. FERC said the proceeding is aimed at significant electrical loads such as data centers that are reshaping transmission planning and interconnection processes. Chairman Laura V. Swett said in the April 16 release that the commission was working with stakeholders and federal partners on the issue. (ferc.gov) December 18, 2025 showed how the commission was already moving beyond a broad inquiry. On that date, FERC ordered PJM Interconnection to create clearer tariff rules for AI-driven data centers and other large loads co-located with generating facilities, saying the existing tariff lacked clarity and consistency on rates, terms and conditions. The commission said the new rules were intended to protect reliability and consumers in PJM’s 13-state and District of Columbia footprint. (ferc.gov) ### What kinds of projects are at the center of the fight? Large loads co-located at generating facilities have been a central test case since at least 2024. FERC’s commissioner-led technical conference on the subject said the agency wanted to examine whether those loads require wholesale transmission or ancillary services, how costs should be allocated, and what the impacts could be on resource adequacy, reliability, affordability and markets. (ferc.gov) The conference notice also said FERC was not using that forum to decide specific pending cases. PJM became the first major proving ground because developers and utilities there were pressing for ways to serve new data-center demand from generation located at or near project sites. FERC’s December 2025 order said eligible transmission customers serving co-located load would have to choose among specified transmission service options once PJM revised its tariff. (ferc.gov) ### How big is the demand growth FERC is reacting to? NEMA said on May 7 that U.S. electricity demand is now projected to rise more than 55% by 2050, with the sharpest growth in the current decade. The trade group said data centers alone are projected to account for 38% of net electricity consumption through 2037, driven by hyperscaler capital spending and the energy intensity of AI workloads. NEMA also projected a 300% increase in data-center energy consumption over the next 10 years. (ferc.gov) Utility Dive reported on May 13 that NEMA’s updated forecast raised its earlier outlook and put total U.S. net electricity consumption at 6,130 terawatt-hours in 2050, up from 3,936 TWh in 2024. The same report said the largest growth in data-center demand through 2035 is expected in the mid-Atlantic and Texas. (makeitelectric.org) ### What could new federal oversight change for developers and utilities? FERC has not yet issued a final rule in RM26-4-000, but the commission has signaled that large-load connections may face more standardized federal review where transmission service, cost allocation and reliability obligations are implicated. In PJM, FERC has already said tariffs need clearer pathways for co-located loads and better-defined charges and service options. (utilitydive.com) That matters because interconnection studies, transmission upgrades and utility approvals can determine when a data center is energized and who pays for the network changes around it. FERC’s technical conference notice listed those issues in regulatory terms — wholesale transmission, ancillary services and cost allocation — rather than as site-specific construction questions, a sign that the agency is treating them as system planning and jurisdictional questions as well as commercial ones. (ferc.gov) That is an inference from the scope of issues FERC identified for the conference and the later PJM order. ### What happens next, and where can the docket be tracked? April 16 is the latest formal milestone FERC has published on the broader rulemaking, and the commission said it will take action by June 2026 in RM26-4-000. The docket can be tracked through FERC’s eLibrary and news pages, while related implementation work continues in regional proceedings such as PJM’s co-location cases and the Southwest Power Pool’s High Impact Large Load initiative approved in January 2026. (ferc.gov 1) (ferc.gov 2)