A group of U.S. lawmakers, including Senator Elizabeth Warren, asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (U.S. electricity regulator) to reject BlackRock Global Infrastructure Partners’ proposed acquisition of AES. The transaction, agreed in March with EQT and other investors, is valued at about $33.4 billion including debt. In a Sept. 28 letter to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Laura Swett, lawmakers argued that private equity’s expanding role in public utilities could increase electricity bills and allow data centers to benefit at the expense of utility customers. The request comes as U.S. power demand reaches record highs, driven largely by energy-intensive data centers and prompting a wave of power-sector mergers and acquisitions, including proposals to take public electric utilities private.