{"id":1572,"date":"2025-08-02T16:07:57","date_gmt":"2025-08-02T16:07:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.logicalware.net\/?p=1572"},"modified":"2025-08-05T19:25:38","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T19:25:38","slug":"electricity-cost-concerns-grow-amid-push-for-more-ai-data-centers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.logicalware.net\/index.php\/2025\/08\/02\/electricity-cost-concerns-grow-amid-push-for-more-ai-data-centers\/","title":{"rendered":"Electricity cost concerns grow amid push for more AI data centers"},"content":{"rendered":"
As tech companies race to power data centers<\/a> to support artificial intelligence services, some Americans are reporting spikes in their electricity bills.<\/p>\n The Trump administration recently released an \u201cAI Action Plan<\/a>,\u201d which vowed to expedite permitting for the construction of energy-intensive data centers. During the unveiling of the plan<\/a>, President Trump acknowledged the growing need for power to run these centers, which are being built<\/a> across the country by companies like Google, Amazon and Microsoft.<\/p>\n New reporting by the Washington Post<\/a> suggests consumers are seeing a spike in their energy bills because of these data centers. According to the report, customers in the areas serviced by PJM Interconnection have seen their electricity bills increase. In Ohio, prices are up between 10 percent and 15 percent, while in New Jersey, prices have increased 20 percent.<\/p>\n Experts have told NewsNation that a 5-gigawatt data center could use more energy a year than many states \u2014 but they insist Big Tech growth<\/a> isn\u2019t solely to blame for the recent price increases.<\/p>\n \u201cData centers are affecting electricity, but they are affecting electricity planning at this point. They are not necessarily affecting electricity bills,\u201d said Tricia Pridemore, president of the National Association of Regulatory Commissioners<\/a> (NARC). \u201cThese large AI data centers that you keep hearing about on the news, they are in the planning and construction phase at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n Supply and demand are believed to be behind cost increases in the PJM territory, which has a reorganized market. They have a capacity auction in which power industries bid to supply enough electricity in the future. Right now, there is a greater demand because more supply will be needed for these data centers. <\/p>\n