{"id":1389,"date":"2025-10-21T11:15:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T11:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/audiomateria.com\/?p=1389"},"modified":"2025-10-24T19:16:04","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T19:16:04","slug":"a-data-center-that-doesnt-even-exist-can-raise-your-electricity-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/audiomateria.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/21\/a-data-center-that-doesnt-even-exist-can-raise-your-electricity-bill\/","title":{"rendered":"A data center that doesn\u2019t even exist can raise your electricity bill"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Aerial view of a data center.\" data-caption=\"An Amazon Web Services data center in Manassas, Virginia. Virginia is home to the largest concentration of data centers in PJM, a power grid that spans 13 states and Washington, DC.\" data-portal-copyright=\"\" data-has-syndication-rights=\"1\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" data-src=\"http:\/\/audiomateria.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/GettyImages-2223681402-scaled.jpg\"><figcaption>\n\tAn Amazon Web Services data center in Manassas, Virginia. Virginia is home to the largest concentration of data centers in PJM, a power grid that spans 13 states and Washington, DC.\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">Your <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/climate\/420887\/electricity-energy-bill-expensive-prices-rising\">electricity bill is rising<\/a>. Naturally, you\u2019re mad about it and looking around at who to blame. But it\u2019s not a who, it\u2019s a what \u2014 and the recent AI-driven data center construction spree is at least partly the reason why.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">Copious data centers have sprung up across the United States, nearly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mckinsey.com\/industries\/public-sector\/our-insights\/the-data-center-balance-how-us-states-can-navigate-the-opportunities-and-challenges\">doubling in number<\/a> between 2021 and 2024, with no end in sight to their rapid spread. According to consulting firm McKinsey &amp; Company, companies are projected to spend <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mckinsey.com\/industries\/public-sector\/our-insights\/the-data-center-balance-how-us-states-can-navigate-the-opportunities-and-challenges\">$1.6 trillion on data center hardware<\/a> in the US by 2030.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">It\u2019s not just the existing facilities that are creating heftier bills; even data centers that have yet to be built are driving up power prices today.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">These imposing, flat-walled, near-windowless buildings are filled with processors, hard drives, and memory chips that devour electrons. Today, some of the biggest tech companies in the world are now racing each other to secure more computing facilities and the energy to power them as they scramble to dominate the AI sector. BloombergNEF, an energy research firm, estimates that data centers will <a href=\"https:\/\/about.bnef.com\/insights\/commodities\/power-for-ai-easier-said-than-built\/\">consume more than double their current share of electricity<\/a> by 2035, accounting for nearly 9 percent of all US electricity demand. The US Department of Energy last year projected that data centers could devour upward of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.energy.gov\/articles\/doe-releases-new-report-evaluating-increase-electricity-demand-data-centers\">12 percent of the country\u2019s total electricity<\/a> production as soon as 2028.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-vox-media-highlight vox-media-highlight\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Key Takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Household electricity bills are climbing across the US, partly because of the explosion of power-hungry data centers.<\/li>\n<li>Tech companies are scrambling to lock in more electricity for their planned computing facilities, even ones that might never get built.<\/li>\n<li>That rush for energy is already driving up today\u2019s power and infrastructure costs.<\/li>\n<li>Maryland\u2019s consumer advocate says it\u2019s time for grid operators to step in and stop this kind of energy speculation before it hits customers even harder.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">\u201cLarge loads have always existed, but they tended to be much smaller. A large load might be 10 to 50 megawatts,\u201d said Pieter Mul, an associate partner at PA Consulting. \u201cNow, data centers are consuming hundreds of megawatts at a time.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">&nbsp;\u201cYou have this large mismatch between not just the willingness to pay but also the speed and volume at which these data centers want to interconnect,\u201d he added. \u201cIt&#8217;s running at a pace far ahead of the supply&#8217;s ability to meet that load.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">And that mismatch is a recipe for soaring electricity prices.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">Last week, Maryland state\u2019s legal representative for utility customers <a href=\"https:\/\/opc.maryland.gov\/Portals\/0\/Files\/Publications\/Others\/MPC%20letter%20to%20PJM%20and%20comments%20re%202026%20cycle%20Load%20Forecasting%20FINAL%2010142025.pdf?ver=dH4rBUdCK1fC9WK8QoE6vQ%3d%3d\">sent a letter<\/a> to its regional grid operator, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pjm.com\/about-pjm\">PJM<\/a>, asking them to halt a &#8220;land rush\u201d for electricity from data centers that is increasing power bills for households.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">Marylanders are getting unhappier about their power bills, and this request is a significant escalation in the consumer-driven backlash against the rapid expansion of the tech industry\u2019s footprint.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Maryland\u2019s ratepayers \u2014 like most of us \u2014 are paying for the data center buildout<\/h2>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">Advocates on behalf of Maryland\u2019s ratepayers finally pushed back after, earlier this year, an auction for power capacity to meet peak demand in PJM\u2019s territory set a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.utilitydive.com\/news\/pjm-interconnection-capacity-auction-prices\/753798\/\">new record high price<\/a>, soaring 22 percent above its previous peak. And they are already starting to raise <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/baltimore\/news\/maryland-energy-costs-rise-pjm-bge-electricity\/\">monthly bills by about $16<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">PJM is an important part of the US energy system. It\u2019s the largest power grid operator in the US, serving <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pjm.com\/-\/media\/DotCom\/about-pjm\/newsroom\/fact-sheets\/pjm-at-a-glance.pdf\">67 million people<\/a> across 13 states and Washington, DC. And it\u2019s also a global hotspot for this expanding tech. The grid includes Loudoun County in Virginia, home to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/features\/2025-07-29\/loudon-county-data-center-growth-strains-residents-seeking-ai-regulation\">almost 200 data centers<\/a> \u2014 the largest market for hyperscale data centers in the world.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">Utilities are telling PJM they expect even more electricity demand from data centers. According to Maryland\u2019s Office of People\u2019s Counsel, PJM\u2019s forecast for load growth by 2030 has nearly doubled compared to its previous forecast. The costs of building the infrastructure to support these new data centers are already getting baked into power prices, including in places that have seen little benefit from the race for more computing power.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" alt=\"A sign reading \u201cNo data center complex in Tucker county\u201d\" title=\"A sign reading \u201cNo data center complex in Tucker county\u201d\" data-has-syndication-rights=\"1\" data-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;A sign reading \u201cNo data center complex in Tucker county\u201d is seen in the town of Davis, West Virginia. Opposition to data centers is growing in many parts of the US.&lt;\/p&gt; | Ulisse Bellier\/AFP via Getty Images\" data-portal-copyright=\"Ulisse Bellier\/AFP via Getty Images\" class=\"lazyload\" data-src=\"http:\/\/audiomateria.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/GettyImages-2224533104-scaled.jpg\"><\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">\u201cIt\u2019s totally unfair,\u201d said David Lapp, who serves as People\u2019s Counsel for Maryland. \u201cAll the laws and regulations that we have are set up for an entirely different scale and scope of growth and electricity demand, so we&#8217;re dealing with essentially antiquated rules.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">Lapp explained that tech companies are shopping around for favorable electricity prices from different utilities, trying to buy up as much power as they can at low prices. Those utilities, in turn, are telling grid operators like PJM how much electricity they\u2019re going to need in the future. Just the speculation of increasing energy demand in the future is setting off a scramble for power that&#8217;s already manifesting in higher prices for ordinary people.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">But it\u2019s unlikely that all of those data centers are going to get built, especially if the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wheresyoured.at\/the-ai-bubbles-impossible-promises\/\">AI boom turns out to be a bubble<\/a> or as companies consolidate. Some tech companies may also be soliciting electricity bids from multiple utilities for the same data center, so there may be some double-counting driving up demand forecasts, as well. And even the facilities that do get built may not need all the electricity that they requested as computing hardware gets more efficient.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">This all means that ordinary households will end up holding the bag for the new power generators and transmission lines intended to support data center demand that may never arise.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">And all of this could be very expensive for ordinary people. In other power markets with a lot of new data centers in recent years \u2014 places such as <a href=\"https:\/\/azpha.org\/2025\/08\/05\/how-arizonas-data-center-boom-could-hike-your-power-bill-harm-public-health\/\">Phoenix<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcchicago.com\/news\/local\/how-ai-data-centers-are-contributing-to-high-energy-bills-in-illinois\/3821576\/\">Chicago<\/a> \u2014 monthly wholesale electricity prices <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/graphics\/2025-ai-data-centers-electricity-prices\/\">rose 267 percent<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Can data center energy speculation be reined in?<\/h2>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">By raising the alarm about how predictions of future energy needs are making things more expensive now, Lapp is hoping to start the process of creating reforms in PJM to keep prices under control.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">In an emailed statement, PJM spokesperson Jeffrey Shields told Vox that the grid operator agrees that it\u2019s crucial to try to get as accurate a picture of demand growth as possible. Unfortunately, that\u2019s a tough thing to do. PJM doesn\u2019t directly interact with power customers. That&#8217;s the job of utilities, and they need to be the ones tracking how much power their users actually need.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">For its part, PJM is working on ways to get a sharper picture of the future, including requiring data center developers to disclose the full scale of their projects in multiple areas and developing a more thorough review process for requests for more power.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">Once they\u2019re online, data centers can actually be a <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.google\/inside-google\/infrastructure\/how-were-making-data-centers-more-flexible-to-benefit-power-grids\/\">boon for the power grid<\/a>. They\u2019re ratepayers, too, and their bills can start paying back the costs of the new infrastructure, which can boost reliability across the grid. Data centers don\u2019t necessarily have to run flat out all the time, and many come equipped with their own backup power systems, so they can be optimized to run when power is especially cheap and help make the grid more stable on balance. Some tech companies are also constructing their own generators to keep their giant boxes humming. But that\u2019s only if they get built at all.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">\u201cWhen [data centers] do come online, they&#8217;re going to contribute by paying for the system,\u201d Lapp said. \u201cBut if half of them don&#8217;t come online, then there&#8217;s going to have been a lot of costs that are incurred. \u2026 Those costs get shifted onto existing customers, so existing customers are taking on a ton of risk with these forecasts.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">There is a key way to lower the power bill for ordinary people, though. Julia Kortrey, deputy state policy director at Evergreen Action, a climate policy advocacy group, said one way to limit electricity speculation is to force tech companies to put more skin in the game.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">\u201cWe can put incentives like requiring data center developers to put down a deposit or some type of financial commitment,\u201d Kortrey said. \u201cThat would help reduce the number of double proposals or over-speculation.\u201d Shields, the PJM spokesperson, said the grid operator is working on recommendations for utilities to \u201crequire financial commitments from large load customers based on the additional capacity PJM is required to acquire on their behalf.\u201d&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">Consumer electricity prices are still likely to rise further, and more power-chugging data centers will crop up, but tamping down on rampant speculation of future demand could make power bills more manageable.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">Otherwise, rising energy prices will be an even bigger drag on the economy, and more people will struggle to keep the lights on.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An Amazon Web Services data center in Manassas, Virginia. Virginia is home to the largest concentration of data centers in PJM, a power grid that spans 13 states and Washington, DC. Your electricity bill is rising. Naturally, you\u2019re mad about it and looking around at who to blame. But it\u2019s not a who, it\u2019s a&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1391,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-climate"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/audiomateria.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/audiomateria.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/audiomateria.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/audiomateria.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/audiomateria.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1389"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/audiomateria.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1389\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1394,"href":"http:\/\/audiomateria.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1389\/revisions\/1394"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/audiomateria.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/audiomateria.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/audiomateria.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/audiomateria.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}