President Donald Trump tried to ease Americans’ concerns about the rising cost of electricity during his State of the Union speech — and now we’re learning that the deals he promised could materialize next week. Trump claimed to have negotiated a “ratepayer protection pledge” with major technology companies that would help them build new power generation or pay for their data centers. Leaders from Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, XAI, Oracle and OpenAI are expected to attend the March 4 event to sign the pledge. fox news reported today.
There are very few details at this point about what the pledge includes, nor how companies will be held accountable for meeting any commitments. “Under this bold initiative, these large companies will build, bring in or buy their own power supplies for new AI data centers,” White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said in an email. The Verge.
“We are telling the major technology companies that they have a responsibility to meet their power needs,” Trump said during his speech.
“It is their responsibility to meet their own electricity needs.”
Companies looking to expand their data centers for generic AI are already trying to do so. Anthropic and Microsoft recently made voluntary commitments to cover the cost of new power plants built to serve their data centers. But they will need to sign contracts with utilities and grid operators, or local regulators will need to set new policies to keep the companies on the hook for meeting their promises. Meta has signed a 15-year agreement to cover the capital costs of three new gas-fired plants it is building in Louisiana to power its largest-ever data center. But some residents and consumer advocates are still concerned about how increased demand from data centers could drive up fuel and electricity costs.
Tech companies have also recently announced several agreements to support the deployment of next-generation nuclear reactors that can provide power to their data centers. But that technology is still in development, and isn’t generally expected to come online until 2030. Plans to connect new fossil fuel-fired plants to the power grid are also facing delays Gas turbines are in short supply.
Another obstacle is growing in the way of those ambitions: local pressure, which is resulting in tech companies facing construction delays and cancellations. Dozens of data center projects across the US. What followed was a flurry of promises from tech companies to address community concerns.
Rising electric rates also became a major issue in state elections won by Democrats last year, including Governor Abigail Spanberger’s victory in Virginia. Spanberger, whose state is home to the largest concentration of data centers in the world, led Democrats’ response to Trump’s address.
“As I campaigned for governor last year, I traveled to every corner of Virginia, and I heard the same serious concern everywhere: The costs are too high,” Spanberger said. “And I know this same conversation is happening across the country.”
