(File Photo of a Dollar Sign)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Harrisburg, PA) State Rep. Craig Williams, (R-Delaware/Chester) joined House Republican Leader Jesse Topper, (R-Bedford/Fulton) at a press conference in Harrisburg today to promote the Pennsylvania Electricity Ratepayer Protection Act, legislation they say would help address rising electricity costs.

According to the lawmakers, the proposal would prevent certain data center infrastructure costs from being passed on to ratepayers and encourage additional electricity generation in Pennsylvania.

The event came after the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission announced new electricity price increases that took effect June 1st.

Williams and Topper argued that growing demand for electricity, particularly from large data centers connected to the PJM regional power grid, is contributing to higher costs for consumers. They contend that requiring data centers to bear more of their own infrastructure costs would help protect residential ratepayers.

The legislation has not yet advanced through the General Assembly and it currently awaits consideration in the House Energy Committee.