Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT). fired a letter On Tuesday, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta and several major data center developers were sent to investigate the impact on Americans’ utility bills.
The move comes as rising electricity rates have become a major issue in the US, which has and has seen far more data centers than any other country in the world. Waves of local protest As a result of these features. Electricity demand is suddenly increasing after more than a decade without much changeLargely due to the new data centers that underpin the generative AI boom. Lawmakers argue that utilities pass on transfer costs to consumers while building new power plants and transmission lines to meet data center demand.
“American households manage trillion-dollar power costs for tech companies”
“Through these utility price increases, American households control the electricity costs of tech companies to the tune of trillions of dollars.” Letter They say. “The energy use of data centers should not come at the expense of energy availability and affordability for American households.”
The contribution of data centers is even greater 4 percent Electricity usage data in the country, US Department of Energy expects to reach this figure 12 percent By 2028. AI increases the amount of power of data centers needed to accomplish more complex tasks. And even if the AI bubble bursts, other ratepayers may too Stuck with the bill For new energy projects that start in the meantime.
It’s hard to say how much of the burden will fall on residential consumers, because powerful tech companies have made deals with utilities behind closed doors and asked local officials to do the same. sign nda This limits how much information is made public. In many instances, data center developers do not even disclose who their tenants will be.
Seeking to lift the curtain, the three senators have asked the companies to respond to a long list of questions in their letter by January 12 next year. When it comes to local regulation, topics range from the power consumption of data centers and companies’ expansion plans to their lobbying efforts. The senators sent the letter to Google, Microsoft, Amazon and Meta, as well as data center developers CoreWeave, Digital Realty and Equinix.
Microsoft and Meta declined to comment on the record. The VergeGoogle and the three data center developers did not immediately respond to inquiries, The Verge,
Amazon spokeswoman Lisa Levandowski said in an email that “Amazon pays its own electricity costs – and we challenge anyone claiming otherwise to show us their data.” Lewandowski pointed aside report The Amazon-funded company says its data centers generate more revenue for utilities than it costs to service those facilities.
Lewandowski also cited december report Researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found that increased demand for electricity could actually reduce average retail electricity prices by spreading the cost among more customers. However, that study notes that this trend benefits larger, non-residential customers. The researchers based this on data between 2019 and 2024 and cautioned that it is “unclear” whether the same pattern will continue if electricity demand continues to grow more rapidly.
