In recent years power bills in Great Britain went through the roof and were a primary concern for citizens. It happened in other countries too as I remember. Here in the US those price increases have been relatively modest, though wildfires have caused some areas to suffer more. I think US energy independence pursued by all recent administrations has kept prices somewhat in check. (Not that I personally support fossil fuels use.)
What happened overseas may be encouraging power companies here to seek additional profits as new technology puts pressure on the grid.
From Wall Street Journal 7-29-25:
“Technology companies need an extraordinary amount of electricity to power data centers at the core of the artificial-intelligence race. They don’t want to foot the entire bill.”
From The Hill 8-2-25:
“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. At PJM’s recent auction, prices went up a record 22 percent, according to Reuters.”
From Government Technology 8-2-25:
“Residents in a significant number of states could see noticeable increases in their electricity bills next year, and data centers are the likely culprit. PJM Interconnection just closed its annual capacity auction, which determines what wholesale electricity will cost for the following year. Wholesale electricity capacity prices were up 22 percent over last year.
“PJM’s territory covers all or parts of Delaware, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and Washington, D.C. This includes the world’s largest concentration of data centers, Data Center Alley in Northern Virginia. PJM pointed to data center expansion as the main driver for the significant increase in prices.
“The energy industry considers PJM’s auction as a bellwether for prices in the entire U.S., so it wouldn’t be surprising if prices from other providers also see significant increases. Electricity demand in the U.S. has been fairly stagnant over the last decade, but the Bank of America Institute expects it to increase 2.5 percent annually over the next 10 years. The energy-hungry data centers powering artificial intelligence are considered the main culprit.”
However, it’s not just data centers that will put upward pressure on energy prices –
From ConsumerAffairs 8-1-25:
(Note: in trying to determine whether ConsumerAffairs has a bias I found many complaints about their business practices. The complaints all had to do with their consumer review moderation methods controlling product and service reviews on the website. While I would not trust reviews there, the linked article appears factual to me, and it highlights concerning details that could or will probably lead to higher power bills around the country.)
Oregon House Bill 3546, the POWER Act, was passed and signed in June of this year. I’m hoping it will protect Oregonians from increases related to data centers. My opinion is while there are some other beneficial uses as in research, (AI) data centers will be primarily used in a monopolistic fashion to increase corporate profits with tactics like marketing directed at us – why should we pay for that?
-Dave