S3682

1) WHAT HAPPENED: Senator Van Hollen (D-MD) introduced S.3682 on January 15, 2026. It was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Companion bill HR8241 has been referred to House Energy and Commerce. The bill is in its earliest legislative stage with no committee hearings or markups. Eight cosponsors — all Democrats — provide limited bipartisan support. Zero dollars in funding are authorized or appropriated. 2) THE MONEY TRAIL: There is no money in this bill. It is a regulatory directive — it instructs FERC and state commissions to create data-center-specific rate classes and cost allocation methodologies. This reallocates existing revenue obligations rather than creating new spending. The financial impact is entirely indirect: if data centers pay more, residential ratepayers pay less. For utilities, this shifts the mix of who pays but does not alter total revenue under cost-of-service regulation. 3) STRUCTURAL WINNERS AND LOSERS: Residential ratepayers are structural beneficiaries (lower bills), but there is no ticker for that. Data center operators (real estate REITs $EQIX, $DLR, hyperscalers $AMZN, $MSFT, $GOOGL) face higher power costs if the bill advances — but these are not utility tickers and the mechanism is too indirect at this stage. Regulated utilities with minimal data center load exposure ($DUK, $WEC, $PCG, $SRE, $AEP) are unaffected — they do not depend on data center load growth for their rate base growth. The tickers with measurable downside are the two utilities where data center demand is most built into valuations: $ETR and (competitive generation segment). 4) MARKET DATA ANALYSIS: Real market data shows $ETR at $115.69 (+2.96% 30-day, +1.80% 7-day), trading near the top of its 52-week range ($79.40-$117.95). The stock has outperformed utility peers over the past month — $DUK is -1.85%, $WEC +0.69%, $AEP +3.88% — and this relative strength likely incorporates the data center demand thesis. at $96.39 (+3.78% 30-day, +1.16% 7-day) is also near its 52-week high ($63.88-$97.63). Neither stock shows any price disruption from this bill's introduction or subsequent inaction — market impact is zero. 5) TIMELINE: No further actions since January 15, 2026. The bill requires: committee hearings, markup, floor vote in Senate, companion passage in House, conference committee (if different versions), and Presidential signature. Given zero bipartisanship (8 Democratic cosponsors, zero Republicans), this is unlikely to pass in the 119th Congress. Earliest real market impact would require FERC rulemaking post-enactment — years away.