Overview
- President Trump convened technology executives at the White House this week to sign a pledge not to raise household electricity bills as data centers expand.
- Industry voices urge co-locating data centers with their own power sources to reduce grid strain and potentially lower nearby costs.
- Energy projections warn steep growth in demand, with Lawrence Berkeley National Lab estimating data centers could use up to 12% of U.S. electricity by 2028.
- Some firms have already committed to cover their facilities’ impacts, including Microsoft on full energy costs, OpenAI on paying its own way, and Anthropic on 100% of needed grid upgrades.
- Public concern is driving pushback, with regulators approving sizable rate increases in 2025 and several states as well as Denver considering or instituting moratoriums on new data centers.