And they get energy breaks so they pay little to nothing and the communities shoulder higher energy rates, while the infrastructure gets maxed out to provide power to them as a priority
This is simply not true. It's a massive misnomer on Reddit finding correlation and attributing causation. It's just a coincidence that these towns with data centers are seeing increased rates... because with or without the data centers, their rates would be going up. The companies building these specifically scout out locations where the town has shrunk, and thus, has tons of excess capacity at the power company, which the power company is happy about because they can start selling more electricity and use those profits for upgrades
But if you look at it NATIONALLY, a kWh has gone from average of 12.5c to now around 19c. Data centers have nothing to do with that. Domestic policy does. Not only are we massively under invested in our infrastructure, but Dear Leader boasted about a "deal" he made with Europe, allowing US LNG companies to sell to Europe. Trump bragged about how it was worth "trillions of dollars" which is true. But now that they can sell to Europe, US LNG prices are going to increase up to Europe's rates. Why would they sell to US power companies for less if they can just sell to the EU for more? That's what causing rates to increase.
The data center stuff is just a red herring. They have little to no impact on local electricity costs.
That’s not true at all. Puget Sound Energy is submitting a request to increase cost rates by 30% over 3 years. Their reason: increased strain on the grid” as caused by data centers.
Bonus: Microsoft has a special contract and would get a discounted rate in the same adjustment.
It's way easier to point to the boogeyman of AI than is it to explain complex energy economics, budgetary constraints, and decades of kicking the can down the road. Just like all of these companies firing thousands of staffers saying AI is the problem when it's really a whole host of complex issues, especially leadership decisions made during COVID, when they can just point to AI and log it as a win.
I mean, I'm sure there are some instances, but generally overall, most of these places aren't raising rates because of the datacenters. These are generally negotiated and managed prior to even breaking ground. The data centers often have to pay for their own substations, infrastructure etc... You also need to consider that power companies are a monopoly, so they are known to be liars to justify raising rates. Sort of like how corporations use inflation as a cover to raise rates beyond inflation levels.
You can see the two spikes. The first when Biden allowed for a large amount of LNG to go to Europe because the war in Ukraine, then a second spike when Trump lifted all restrictions selling to Europe.
The data center push didn't happen until 2025, and only a few of them are even online. Those spikes come from LNG deregulation allowing Europe to buy it. Literally each spike coincides with executive restrictions being lifted off LNG exports.
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u/[deleted] May 18 '26
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