FERC Orders Grid Operators to Overhaul Data Center Tariffs

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on June 18 ordered regional transmission organizations to justify or reform tariffs for connecting AI data centers to the interstate grid. The action is the sharpest regulatory move in an 18-month escalation from formal review through DOE directive to nationwide tariff reform. Grid operators must now address rules built around legacy load profiles, not hundred-megawatt AI campuses. RTOs face mandatory scrutiny of interconnection queues that now bottleneck hyperscaler applicants.