Electricity companies plot massive 142% bill hike despite increasing risk of blackouts

Daily Mail​

15 hours ago

Major electricity companies are plotting a 142 percent bill increase for individual consumers to pass on the cost of energy guzzling data centers.
The booming demand for data centers is being driven by the relentless rise of AI in every area of life.
Power providers have asked regulators to approve $29 billion in rate increases in the first half of the year.
The figures mark a 142 percent rise on the hikes seen in the same period last year, according to a new report.
It comes as President Donald Trump's Energy Secretary warned that the demand of data centers could inflict 800 hours of energy blackouts a year by 2030.
'This report affirms what we already know: The United States cannot afford to continue down the unstable and dangerous path of energy subtraction previous leaders pursued,' Secretary Chris Wright said in a statement.
'In the coming years, America's reindustrialization and the AI race will require a significantly larger supply of around-the-clock, reliable, and uninterrupted power,' he explained.
Among those set to hike prices is National Grid, which serves customers in New York and Massachusetts.
The company was given the green light by regulators to hike consumer's bills by $50 a month - a total windfall of $708 million.
'What we're seeing is a deer-in-headlights dynamic,' Charles Hua, executive director of PowerLines, an energy affordability advocacy group that compiled the report, told the Financial Times.
'A lot of states don't have a playbook for how they can meet rising [data center] demand while balancing affordability and utility bills.'
PG&E, which serves 5.5 million billpayers across California, requested permission for a $3.1 billion bill hike in April.
The request was followed swiftly by a $834 million proposal to regulators by Texas provider Oncor, which provides energy to 13 million households.
Utility giants insist the bill increases will go towards repairing damaged infrastructure which is being battered by the effects of climate change.
Investment is also needed to upgrade the ageing electricity grid to meet the demands of rapid growth.
However, consumer advocates argue the electricity demands of AI and its data centers are being billed to ordinary Americans rather than corporations.
While some utility companies are charging big energy users such as data centers large-load fees, it is not clear how evenly the costs are being distributed as most deals take place in private.
'These closed door proceedings are problematic as the regulator doesn't get the benefit of multiple parties weighing in and we don't know,' Ari Peskoe, director at Harvard Law School's electricity law initiative, told the FT.
'Meanwhile the utility is spending billions of dollars on infrastructure,' he added.