Plain-English version of what FERC is and why this matters: the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is the federal body that approves the rules governing the interstate transmission grid — the high-voltage lines that move bulk power between states. State public utility commissions (the PUCT in Texas, the SCC in Virginia, etc.) regulate the distribution layer underneath. A new data center over ~20 MW pulls so much power that connecting it usually requires transmission-level upgrades — new substations, line rebuilds, sometimes new generation. The question FERC is being asked is who pays for those upgrades: the developer requesting the load, the utility's other ratepayers (residential households and small businesses), or some split. The proceeding (Docket RM26-4-000) was triggered in October 2025 when Energy Secretary Chris Wright invoked a rarely-used authority under the DOE Organization Act and formally directed FERC to consider new interconnection rules for large loads. FERC committed in April to act by end of June. The June 18 open meeting is the expected vote. The most concrete recent signal is FirstEnergy's June 5 filing, which explicitly asked FERC to require data centers to pay for the transmission upgrades needed to bring them online — exactly the position the state ratepayer-protection bills (NY, OK, the Abbott directive in Texas) are trying to legislate at the state level.
Primary source · Federal Energy Regulatory Commission — official notice of June 2026 action ↗
Why it matters
This is the single most important federal docket of the year for site readiness. Three downstream consequences to track. (1) If FERC adopts cost-shifting onto the requesting load, the state ratepayer-protection bills become redundant in their main goal and pivot to the harder questions (community benefits, water, noise), while site selection has to start carrying a federal interconnection-cost line item that doesn't exist today. (2) If FERC formalizes co-location, the Behind-The-Meter pathway becomes federally blessed instead of legally murky — that directly expands the BTM SKU surface Cliff is sized around. (3) Whatever FERC says about federal-vs-state jurisdiction is the part that will get litigated, and the litigation outcome is what actually matters for two to three years. The corpus needs to ingest the order text the moment it drops and tag every state proceeding that cites or relitigates it — the value of a regulatory graph compounds the most around new federal anchors, because every state docket below it will reference back.
Related filings
FERC show cause orders Jun 18 / Section 206 / PJM MISO SPP CAISO ISO-NE NYISO / 30-day informational report Jul 20 / 60-day tariff response Aug 17 / 90-day abeyance request Aug 3 / five reform categories / cost-shift prevention is the big one / colocation + BTMG rules / flexible-load transmission services
Plain-English version. On June 18, 2026, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC, the federal regulator with jurisdiction over the interstate transmission grid) used Section 206 of the Federal Power Act to issue what are called 'show-cause orders'...
Project Kilby / Microsoft + Chevron 2.67 GW behind-the-meter / Pecos TX Permian Basin / 20-yr PPA / $7B+ capex / FID YE 2026 / first power 2028 / OFF-grid (bypasses ERCOT)
Plain-English version of what Project Kilby is. Microsoft and Chevron jointly announced on June 22 that they are co-developing a roughly 2.67 gigawatt natural gas power plant in the Permian Basin near Pecos, Texas (about 200 miles east of El Paso), paired...
NC / HB 1004
WRAL and Data Center Knowledge confirm North Carolina lawmakers have moved HB 1004, the Ratepayer and Resource Protection Act, into the 2025-2026 General Assembly. Filed April 27, 2026. Threshold: facilities with peak electricity demand of ≥40 MW...
Oracle sued Wisconsin PSC Jun 19 Ozaukee County / challenging April tariff rule / $100M/year financial security / very large customer >20 MW sub-A credit / Oracle BBB / Port Washington $15B 672 acres 1 GW 4 buildings We Energies / statutory-authority + discrimination + due-process theories / parallel administrative reconsideration / first hyperscaler-vs-PSC ratepayer-protection lawsuit / template for VA SCC MD FERC IL DCIP TX SB6 / AWS BBB+ adjacent risk / expected 6-12 months to ruling
Plain-English background on why this lawsuit matters more than a single facility dispute. Multiple states have enacted or are enacting 'ratepayer protection' rules for hyperscaler-scale customers in 2025-2026: Virginia's SCC rate class (approved Nov 2025,...