The Power for the People Act of 2026 addresses concerns that growing data center electricity consumption is causing rising energy bills for households and businesses, straining the electric grid, and impacting reliability. Congress finds that current energy policies allow other consumers to subsidize data center development, and that data center owners should be held accountable for increased energy costs. The bill seeks to ensure that the interconnection of data centers does not create reliability or affordability risks for other ratepayers. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is mandated to establish a data center load queue system within 180 days, prioritizing data centers that offset their electricity demand and reduce costs for all ratepayers. Priority is given to data centers that bring new, low- or no-carbon supply resources, incorporate low- or no-carbon backup generation, and adhere to specific labor standards, including prevailing wages and the use of registered apprenticeships . Interconnection may be delayed or denied if it adversely affects grid reliability, resource adequacy, or electricity affordability for non-data center users. The bill also amends the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (PURPA) to require states to consider establishing data center-specific rate classes . These rate classes would ensure data centers cover the full cost of generation, transmission, and distribution upgrades necessary to serve them. Potential requirements include minimum demand charges , extended utility contract lengths, increased upfront interconnection study costs, and permissible load ramp periods . States are given one year to commence and two years to complete consideration of these standards. Furthermore, the legislation directs FERC to allocate local transmission upgrade costs directly to interconnecting data centers, ensuring they pay for infrastructure necessitated by their presence. The Secretary of Energy will provide grants and technical assistance to states for creating appropriate rate classes and improving long-term load forecasting, particularly for data center interconnection requests. FERC is also tasked with establishing transparency and disclosure requirements for data center load interconnection requests to reduce speculative applications and improve forecasting accuracy.