POLITICO’s deputy editor-in-chief Joe Schatz sits down for an exclusive interview with Laura Swett, the chair of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. They discuss how FERC might regulate energy-hungry data centers in the near future, rising power demand across the country, the controversy surrounding the nation’s largest grid operator, and what Swett wants to change about energy permitting in the United States. Nirmal Mulaikal is the co-host and executive producer of POLITICO Energy. KJ Cline is the video producer for POLITICO Energy. Matt Daily is the energy editor for POLITICO. Debra Kahn is the editorial director for energy and environmental coverage at POLITICO. Veronica Tejera is the deputy head of Audio/Video at POLITICO. Our theme music is by Pran Bandi. Follow the show on Apple, Spotify, Youtube and Instagram. Follow POLITICO here: ➤ X: https://x.com/politico/ ➤ Instagram: / politico ➤ Facebook: / politico For more reporting on energy and the environment, subscribe to Power Switch, our free evening newsletter: https://www.politico.com/power-switchAnd for even deeper coverage and analysis, read our Morning Energy newsletter by subscribing to POLITICO Pro: https://subscriber.politicopro.com/newsletter-archive/morning-energy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

FERC Chair Laura Swett: 'Buckle up' for a major data center decision

POLITICO Energy

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**Podcast:** POLITICO Energy

## Transcript

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Hey, welcome back to the POLITICO Energy podcast, where we explore the stories and people shaping energy and climate policy. I'm Nirmal Malaykal, your Wednesday and Friday host and executive producer of the show. Today, I want to bring you a special episode, an exclusive conversation with the Chair of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Laura Swett. She's a Republican who was nominated by President Donald Trump about a year ago and has been serving as Chair of FERC since October. Previously, she was in the United States of America.

She was an advisor, an attorney at FERC, an energy litigator, and also worked on the Hill. Right now, of course, her agency is at the center of a bunch of important energy topics like AI and data centers, utility rates, rising power demand, affordability, and more.

So I want to bring you this conversation, which took place this week as a live taping at the Politico Energy Summit between Sweat and Politico's Deputy Editor-in-Chief, Joe Schatz. Here's their extended conversation. It's Friday, June 12th.

Well, let's jump right in. Your commission, as I mentioned, is right at the heart of the debate over data centers and big tech and utilities, how to balance the need for data center energy and for speed with ratepayer concerns, with infrastructure realities. And I'm going to ask you in a moment about the large load interconnection docket. But first, stepping back, you gave a speech a couple months ago that apparently set off a series of conversations with AI companies.

You told them essentially that AI companies didn't understand how the grid or how FERC really worked. What have you learned from those conversations over the past couple months? Yes. So I think you're referring to my comments at Sierra Week. And at that point, I hadn't really interfaced with many data center companies at all.

And in my view, being a responsible regulator sitting in the chair that I have, I cannot be divorced from the commercial realities, the social realities, the economic fiscal implications of anything that I'm doing. And that's an inquiry that I make into every action that we take at the commission.

And so a critical piece of solving the large load issues and data center concerns that are rising in our country is education of myself. I've represented all types of market participants who are under FERC's jurisdiction over my career, a decade and a half. But I had not been exposed to data centers ve...

FERC Chair Laura Swett: 'Buckle up' for a major data center decision

Transcript

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Every day you wait, your competitors are finding
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FERC Chair Laura Swett: 'Buckle up' for a major data center decision

Transcript

Built for investment professionals

Every day you wait, your competitors are findingedge in conversations you're not hearing.

Every day you wait, your competitors are finding
edge in conversations you're not hearing.