NEW DATA: Heinrich’s Bipartisan American Affordability & Jobs Act Will Hold Data Centers Accountable, Lower Electricity Bills by $50-78 Annually, Save $54 Billion in Health-Related Costs, and Lead to Cleaner Air and Healthier Communities | U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich of New Mexico

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – New independent analyses released this week from the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) , Rhodium Group , and Grid Strategies LLC find that Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich’s (D-N.M.) Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act (BAAJA) would lower household electricity bills by $50 to $78 annually by 2040, reduce power sector emissions by approximately 20 percent, and avoid $54 billion in cumulative public health damages. The analyses also find that the legislation would accelerate the connection of clean energy projects to the grid and require data centers to pay billions more toward the transmission infrastructure needed to serve their electricity demand. “Americans are tired of paying more in utility bills while projects that could lower costs sit stuck in the planning phase for years,” said Heinrich. “These independent analyses show exactly what we stand to gain by fixing our broken permitting system: lower electricity bills, cleaner air, healthier communities, and more reliable energy infrastructure. BAAJA will help get more affordable energy connected to the grid while making sure massive energy consumers like data centers pay up. We should be building the infrastructure America needs, not making families foot the bill for permitting delays.” BAAJA will deliver lower costs and cleaner air for Americans: Lower electricity bills: Reduce household electricity bills by $50 to $78 annually by 2040, representing a 3–5 percent decrease in electricity prices, according to Rhodium Group. Reduce pollution: Cut cumulative power sector CO2 emissions by approximately 20 percent between 2028 and 2035 compared with current law, according to SEIA. Save billions in health costs: Reduce cumulative public health damages by an estimated $54 billion, according to SEIA. Accelerate clean energy: Enable an additional 167 Gigawatt Alternating Current (GWac) of net solar capacity additions between 2028 and 2035 compared with current law, according to SEIA. Connect more clean energy to the grid: Drive an additional 17–249 Gigawatts (GW) of clean energy resources to connect to the grid through 2040, according to Rhodium Group. Increase clean energy generation: Increase solar and wind generation to 37.4 percent of total power generation, compared with 19.6 percent under the current permitting regime, according to SEIA. Avoid massive amounts of emissions : Avoid as much as 1.5 gigatons of cumulative emissions through 2040, according to Rhodium Group — equivalent to almost 35 million gasoline-powered cars off the road or taking 39 coal plants offline for a decade. BAAJA will also make data centers pay their fair share: Recover $55 billion in transmission costs: Grid Strategies estimates that changes to federal transmission pricing policy under BAAJA could result in data centers contributing approximately $55 billion toward transmission costs over the next decade. Collect $35 billion more from data centers: That represents approximately $35 billion more than data centers would otherwise pay under current policy. For SEIA’s full report on BAAJA, click here . For Rhodium’s full report on BAAJA, click here . For Grid Strategies’ full report on BAAJA, click here . For a fact sheet on BAAJA, click here . ###