At the top of mind for policymakers, hyperscalers, utilities, and consumers is how to fairly, affordably, and reliably address unprecedented large loads looking to interconnect to a U.S. grid that is under strain from accelerating load growth and aging infrastructure long in need of robust investment. The impacts of anticipated data center load and rising electricity costs are making weekly headlines. In March 2026, the President and some of the largest technology companies in the world signed a Ratepayer Protection Pledge, committing new large load customers to pay for all the electricity and associated infrastructure needed to power their operations. But how do current federal transmission pricing frameworks apply to this new load, and what policy solutions are practicable for meeting this critical moment in the history of the U.S. electricity system? 
Federal Transmission Pricing Volume 1: The Evolution of Current Policies and Practices, out now, is aimed at bringing to the conversation a more fulsome background on the evolution of federal transmission pricing to inform the public, policymakers, and regulators about how we got to where we are today and why the policies are the way they are. Understanding the evolution of federal transmission pricing policy will be central to balancing three competing objectives: maintaining reliability, ensuring affordability for new and existing customers, and enabling the infrastructure upgrade and expansion needed for improving resilience and enabling economic growth.
Coming soon: The second volume, Federal Transmission Pricing Volume 2: Options for Ensuring Affordability and Reliability in an Era of High Load Growth, is forthcoming and will take the next step of identifying, explaining, and assessing the merits of various policy options the industry and FERC could adopt to ensure all transmission customers are paying their “fair share” of transmission costs.
This report is sponsored by the Electricity Customer Alliance and Americans for a Clean Energy Grid.