200 US utility firms join Trump electricity pledge as data center electricity use expected to quadruple by 2035 — but does the President's pledge have the teeth to regulate electricity pricing? | Tech Radar

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200 US utility firms join Trump electricity pledge as data center electricity use expected to quadruple by 2035 — but does the President's pledge have the teeth to regulate electricity pricing?

Companies pledge not to pass on cost of data center electricity usage while passing on the cost of data center electricity usage

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US data center electricity usage is expected to quadruple by 2035

There has been a surge in signups for Trump's Ratepayer Protection Act

Residential electricity rates have risen by 25% over the past four years

US data centers are expected to use four times more electricity by 2035 than they currently use, bringing the total consumption to one fifth of the country's electricity production.

In an attempt to quell the national dissatisfaction with AI and the data centers needed to support capacity, over 200 entities have joined President Trump’s pledge to not pass on rising electricity costs to consumers.

But Trump’s pledge is entirely voluntary, and has little control over electricity pricing which is decided by state regulators and electricity buyers and sellers - and in some states with huge data center buildouts electricity pricing has already risen significantly.

A new report by Bloomberg NEF seen by Tech Crunch predicts that global AI compute will rise to as much as 200 gigawatts over the next decade, with most of it concentrated in the US. Additionally, many already strained power grids across the US will struggle to handle new data center connections without huge infrastructure buildouts. Current infrastructure buildouts have seen the US government seize private property from landowners using eminent domain.

The PJM Interconnection across Virginia and Illinois is expected to see 34% of its electricity go to data centers over the next decade. In the same timespan, Texas’ ERCOT will have to divert 22% of its electricity to data centers.

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There is one caveat, however. The Bloomberg NEF report is likely a conservative estimate. Compared to a report released in December, Bloomberg NEF’s new electricity usage estimates are 83% higher than the previous prediction.

The strain caused by the buildout of AI data centers is even causing a rift between utility companies and grid operators. American Electric Power threatened to pull out of the PJM interconnection due to the supply-demand imbalance causing prices to rise by as much as 76% in the last year.

Trump pledges to stop electricity price rises caused by big tech

According to exclusive WSJ reporting, there has been a huge surge in signups to Trump’s Ratepayer Protection Pledge, which is a voluntary commitment to not pass on the rise in electricity prices caused by AI data center buildouts to consumers. The pledge encourages private companies to “build, bring, or buy” new electricity sources.

New commitments for the Ratepayer Protection Pledge are expected to be announced by Trump at an event by the Environmental Protection Agency, but Trump’s track record on environmental protection has been less than stellar. New fossil fuel energy production facilities can now expedite their application process, and Trump’s “drill, baby, drill” policy has significantly reduced funding and support for clean and renewable energy sources, which are far cheaper than their fossil fuel counterparts.

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Despite the pledge not to pass on the rising costs of electricity to consumers, there have already been significant consumer electricity price increases across the US.

According to Electric Choice statistics, average US residential electricity rates are up 7.4% year-over-year, with Ohio alone seeing a 19.4% increase in the same period. 13 US states have seen double digit increases in year-over-year electricity pricing, while only 5 states have seen pricing stay the same or decrease.

In the past four years, residential electricity rates have risen by 25%, with grid modernization investments and record data center construction cited as two of the main reasons for the rapid growth in pricing.

According to Cleanview, the US currently has 1,214 operating data centers with a further 1,714 planned or in construction.

A bill that seeks to actually hold tech companies responsible for their contributions to the increase in consumer electricity prices has been introduced to congress, called the Ratepayer Protection Act. The bipatisan bill looks to introduce a “large load standard” requiring tech companies to bear the cost of the energy they use, alongside upgrades to the local grids they connect to.

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Benedict is a Senior Security Writer at Tech Radar Pro, where he has specialized in covering the intersection of geopolitics, cyber-warfare, and business security.

Benedict provides detailed analysis on state-sponsored threat actors, APT groups, and the protection of critical national infrastructure, with his reporting bridging the gap between technical threat intelligence and B2B security strategy.

Benedict holds an MA (Distinction) in Security, Intelligence, and Diplomacy from the University of Buckingham Centre for Security and Intelligence Studies (BUCSIS), with his specialization providing him with a robust academic framework for deconstructing complex international conflicts and intelligence operations, and the ability to translate intricate security data into actionable insights.

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