Electricity bills are going up around the US, but they’re rising even more sharply in areas located near data centers, according to an investigation into power costs by Bloomberg. The price of wholesale electricity has risen as much as 267% over the last five years in data center hot spots, according to the report, which also found that those costs are being passed onto home customers.
Data centers, which support functions including cloud storage, video streaming and AI training for companies of all sizes, use a tremendous amount of electrical and water resources. It’s estimated that their electrical usage will double by 2035 as power plants expand to support our data needs.
AI in particular, including demands as simple — and numerous — as a ChatGPT queries, relies on data centers. Companies with big bets on AI including Microsoft, Meta, Google and Amazon have been investing in data centers and power sources, including nuclear power, to meet their energy demands. ChatGPT maker OpenAI, which is currently building a massive data center in Abilene, Texas, last week announced plans for five more supersized data centers across the US.
The Bloomberg investigation analyzed data from 25,000 nodes used by seven regional transmission authorities to estimate how much the price of wholesale power has changed since 2000. The report found that the spike in prices is affecting the cost of electricity for households and businesses, including fees to maintain and expand electrical networks.
«That can affect customers who aren’t in close proximity to a data center, since their energy relies on the same grid,» the story says.
