The huge demand for electricity from data centers driving the AI boom has fallout for everyday ratepayers. Regulators are concerned.
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https://wapo.st/4aV0zpV
"... Companies such as Google and Amazon have ramped up construction of new data centers as they race to compete in artificial intelligence. The facilities’ extraordinary demand for electricity to power and cool computers inside can drive up the price local utilities pay for energy and require significant improvements to electric grid transmission systems.
... The tech firms and several of the power companies serving them strongly deny they are burdening others. They say higher utility bills are paying for overdue improvements to the power grid that benefit all customers. In some cases, they said in response to criticism from consumer and business advocates that they are committed to covering additional costs.
... In Virginia, which has aggressively recruited data center development, new centers alone are projected to increase demand for power up to 50 percent by 2030, according to the consulting firm Aurora Energy Research. Over the next 15 years, the state will need to add electricity supply equal to the amount used by the entire state of New Jersey, Aurora found.
The most recent forecast from Virginia’s biggest utility, Dominion Energy, projects that between now and 2035, residential electricity prices will grow at three times the annual rate they did over the last 16 years. Dominion executives say customer bills in the state are still lower than the national average, and the proposed cost increases for the coming decade are consistent with recent inflation rates..."
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