References

Power system costs and emissions from data center and cryptocurrency mining expansion in the United States

Peer-reviewed capacity-expansion modeling of 26 US regions under different gas prices, siting patterns, and policies.

• Data center and crypto demand could raise national average power costs 6% to 29% by 2030.
• Regional increases reach 57% where growth concentrates (Virginia in the concentrated scenario).
• Power-sector CO2 emissions up to 28% higher than without data center growth.

Compared with this site: Forward-looking; useful as the range this site's measured trends can be checked against as data arrives.

Draws on: Electricity Grid Impacts of Rising Demand from Data Centers and Cryptocurrency Mining Operations (Open Energy Outlook Initiative and Carnegie Mellon University and North Carolina State University, 2025)

Accessed October 8, 2026

Final Draft 2026 Large Load Forecast

ISO New England's first forecast of large new loads such as data centers, built into its 2026-2035 CELT load forecast (published May 1, 2026).

• Two projects qualify (over 20 MW, in a formal study agreement), a 200 MW data center in the Northeast Massachusetts/Boston load zone and an 85 MW electrification project in Connecticut, both nameplate before derating.
• Data centers are derated heavily, to about 42% of nameplate at the study stage (60% for maturity times 70% for capacity use).
• Neither project is under construction, so neither counts before winter 2027/28; large loads add about 110 MW to summer and winter peaks in the 2030s and about 130 MW in the 2040s (ISO Newswire, May 18, 2026).

Compared with this site: Agrees with this site's site list that New England has little data center load in the pipeline; its one data center is in the Boston zone, separate from the larger Westfield proposal in the site list, which has not entered ISO New England's study process.

Used on this site: Findings; fact isone_large_load_dc_mw (Data status); fact isone_large_load_peak_2030s_mw (Data status)

Accessed October 13, 2026

Powering Intelligence: Updated U.S. Data Center Scenarios

Updated state-level scenarios for US data center electricity use through 2030.

• Data centers could use 9% to 17% of US electricity by 2030, about 60% above EPRI's 2024 estimate.
• Eight states would see much higher shares than the national figure.

Draws on: Powering Intelligence: Analyzing Artificial Intelligence and Data Center Energy Consumption (Electric Power Research Institute, 2024)

Cited by: Have Data Centers Raised Your Electric Bill? Causal Evidence from the United States (Watten et al., 2026)

Accessed October 8, 2026

Data Centers and Their Energy Consumption: Frequently Asked Questions (R48646)

Nonpartisan primer for Congress on what data centers are, why they use so much energy, cooling and water, federal rules, and how little official data exists.

• US data centers used about 176 TWh in 2023 (4.4% of US electricity); projections show up to 12% by 2028.
• No binding federal energy standards apply to private data centers; Energy Star certification is voluntary.
• EIA's 2021 pilot survey of 50 data centers received 9 usable responses; federal data on actual use remain thin.
• A 100 MW data center's direct water use is roughly that of 2,600 households (IEA illustration).

Compared with this site: Explains why this site relies on open trackers and estimated power for data center load.

Draws on: 2024 United States Data Center Energy Usage Report (Shehabi, 2024); Powering Intelligence: Analyzing Artificial Intelligence and Data Center Energy Consumption (Electric Power Research Institute, 2024); Energy and AI (International Energy Agency, 2025)

Cited by: EIA Launches Pilot Survey on Energy Use at Data Centers (American Public Power Association, 2026)

Accessed October 8, 2026

Electricity Grid Impacts of Rising Demand from Data Centers and Cryptocurrency Mining Operations

Least-cost power system modeling of data center and crypto-mining growth through 2030.

• Could raise average US generation costs about 8% and power-sector emissions about 30% by 2030.
• Central and northern Virginia see the largest regional cost increase, over 25%.
• More than 25 GW of coal plants slated to retire keep running mainly to serve the new demand.

Compared with this site: A projection; this site measures what has happened through the latest month. The two would conflict only if projected increases fail to appear in the data.

Cited by: Power system costs and emissions from data center and cryptocurrency mining expansion in the United States (Johnson et al., 2026)

Accessed October 8, 2026

Power Demand Forecasts: How Electricity Demand Will Grow, and Its Impact on Affordability

Consulting forecast of US electricity demand to 2050 and the effect on residential rates (link is Utility Dive's coverage).

• US electricity demand grows about 25% by 2030 and 78% by 2050, driven by data centers, electrification, and industry.
• Residential rates could rise 15% to 40% by 2030, depending on the market.

Compared with this site: A projection; the site will show whether measured prices follow it.

Cited by: Data Center Power Demands Are Contributing to Higher Energy Bills (Yañez-Barnuevo, 2026)

Accessed October 8, 2026

Energy and AI

Global outlook for data center and AI electricity demand and how it will be supplied.

• Global data center use roughly doubles from 415 TWh (2024) to about 945 TWh by 2030.
• US data center use rises by up to 240 TWh (about 130%), the largest increase of any country; natural gas supplies much of it.

Cited by: AI Data Centers: Big Tech's Impact on Electric Bills, Water, and More (Greenfield, 2026); Data Centers and Their Energy Consumption: Frequently Asked Questions (R48646) (Offutt and Zhu, 2025); What AI data centers could mean for your electric bill (Wiseman, 2026)

Accessed October 8, 2026

2024 United States Data Center Energy Usage Report

The federal benchmark estimate of US data center electricity use, prepared for Congress.

• US data centers used about 176 TWh in 2023, 4.4% of US electricity.
• Use began rising sharply in 2017 with GPU servers for AI.
• Scenarios put 2028 use at 6.7% to 12% of US electricity (74 to 132 GW).

Compared with this site: Used as a consistency check on the total capacity of operating sites in the site's data center layer.

Cited by: AI Data Centers: Big Tech's Impact on Electric Bills, Water, and More (Greenfield, 2026); Data Centers and Their Energy Consumption: Frequently Asked Questions (R48646) (Offutt and Zhu, 2025)

Used on this site: fact lbnl_us_dc_twh_2023 (Data status)

Accessed October 8, 2026

Powering Intelligence: Analyzing Artificial Intelligence and Data Center Energy Consumption

EPRI's 2024 scenarios for US data center electricity use through 2030.

• Data centers used about 4% of US electricity in 2023 and could reach up to 9% by 2030.
• AI queries use roughly ten times the electricity of a traditional web search.

Cited by: Data Centers and Their Energy Consumption: Frequently Asked Questions (R48646) (Offutt and Zhu, 2025); Powering Intelligence: Updated U.S. Data Center Scenarios (Electric Power Research Institute, 2026)

Accessed October 8, 2026

2028/2029 Base Residual Auction Report

Official results of the 2028/29 auction, which again cleared at the price cap.

• Cleared at $325.00 per MW-day; without the cap it would have cleared at $554.72.
• Its Table 2 is the source of the site's auction price, cleared MW, and total cost series back to 2018/19.

Used on this site: Findings; Methods; fact pjm_capped_auctions (Data status); fact pjm_uncapped_2028_29_usd_mw_day (Data status)

Accessed October 8, 2026

2025 State of the Market Report for PJM

The market monitor's annual review of PJM's markets, including how much existing and forecast data center load added to capacity auction revenues.

• Data center load growth is the primary reason for recent capacity market conditions, including high prices.
• Data center load raised capacity revenues by about $9.3 billion in 2025/26, $7.3 billion in 2026/27, and $6.5 billion in 2027/28 (about $23.1 billion in total).

Compared with this site: The site's data center share of household capacity cost comes from these figures.

Draws on: IMM Analysis of the 2025/2026 RPM Base Residual Auction, Part G (revised) (Monitoring Analytics (PJM Independent Market Monitor), 2025); IMM Analysis of the 2026/2027 RPM Base Residual Auction, Part A (Monitoring Analytics (PJM Independent Market Monitor), 2025); IMM Analysis of the 2027/2028 RPM Base Residual Auction, Part A (Monitoring Analytics (PJM Independent Market Monitor), 2026)

Cited by: AI data centers: How much are ratepayers on the hook for? (Neuman, 2026)

Used on this site: Findings; Methods

Accessed October 8, 2026

Data centers were 40% of PJM capacity costs in last auction: market monitor

Report on the market monitor's analysis of the 2027/28 auction.

• Data centers were $6.5 billion (40%) of the $16.4 billion auction, about $6.2 billion of it for facilities not yet built.

Draws on: IMM Analysis of the 2027/2028 RPM Base Residual Auction, Part A (Monitoring Analytics (PJM Independent Market Monitor), 2026)

Accessed October 8, 2026

IMM Analysis of the 2027/2028 RPM Base Residual Auction, Part A

Market monitor's analysis of the 2027/28 auction.

• Data center load accounted for about $6.5 billion (40%) of the auction's $16.4 billion cost, mostly from data centers not yet built.
• Over the last three auctions, forecast data center load was about $21.3 billion (45%) of $47.2 billion.

Draws on: PJM Auction Procures 134,479 MW of Generation Resources (2027/2028 Base Residual Auction) (PJM Interconnection, 2025)

Cited by: 2025 State of the Market Report for PJM (Monitoring Analytics (PJM Independent Market Monitor), 2026); Data centers were 40% of PJM capacity costs in last auction: market monitor (Howland, 2026)

Accessed October 8, 2026

PJM Auction Procures 134,479 MW of Generation Resources (2027/2028 Base Residual Auction)

PJM's announcement of 2027/28 results, the first auction to fall short of its reliability requirement across the whole region.

• Cleared at the $333.44 per MW-day cap.
• Procured capacity, including self-supplied (FRR) areas, was 6,623 MW short of the reliability requirement.

Compared with this site: Source of the forward supply-risk figure cited in the site's reliability note.

Cited by: IMM Analysis of the 2027/2028 RPM Base Residual Auction, Part A (Monitoring Analytics (PJM Independent Market Monitor), 2026); Data center power demands again drive record power auction prices (Maryland Office of People's Counsel, 2025)

Used on this site: Findings; fact pjm_shortfall_2027_28_mw (Data status)

Accessed October 8, 2026

Data center power demands again drive record power auction prices

Maryland's consumer advocate on the 2027/28 auction.

• The auction fell about 6,600 MW short of PJM's reliability requirement.

Draws on: PJM Auction Procures 134,479 MW of Generation Resources (2027/2028 Base Residual Auction) (PJM Interconnection, 2025)

Accessed October 8, 2026

Data centers 'primary reason' for high PJM capacity prices: market monitor

Report on the market monitor's analysis of the 2026/27 auction.

• Data center load added $7.3 billion (82%) to 2026/27 capacity revenues.
• Without the price cap, data center load would have added another $3.2 billion.

Draws on: IMM Analysis of the 2026/2027 RPM Base Residual Auction, Part A (Monitoring Analytics (PJM Independent Market Monitor), 2025); Connection Costs Loophole Costs Customers Over $4 Billion to Connect Data Centers to Power Grid (Jacobs, 2025)

Accessed October 8, 2026

IMM Analysis of the 2026/2027 RPM Base Residual Auction, Part A

Market monitor's analysis of the 2026/27 auction, including the cost of data center load.

• Including existing and forecast data center load raised 2026/27 capacity revenues by about $7.3 billion (82%), to $16.1 billion.
• Across the 2025/26 and 2026/27 auctions, data center load accounted for about $16.6 billion of $30.8 billion.

Draws on: 2026/2027 Base Residual Auction Report (PJM Interconnection, 2025)

Cited by: 2025 State of the Market Report for PJM (Monitoring Analytics (PJM Independent Market Monitor), 2026); Data centers 'primary reason' for high PJM capacity prices: market monitor (Howland, 2025)

Accessed October 8, 2026

Projected data center growth spurs PJM capacity prices by factor of 10

Analysis of the 2026/27 auction that traces the price surge to forecast data center load.

• Capacity prices rose from $28.92 per MW-day (2024/25) to $329.17 (2026/27).
• Cites the market monitor's finding that data centers caused 63% of the 2025/26 increase, about $9.3 billion.

Draws on: IMM Analysis of the 2025/2026 RPM Base Residual Auction, Part G (revised) (Monitoring Analytics (PJM Independent Market Monitor), 2025); 2026/2027 Base Residual Auction Report (PJM Interconnection, 2025)

Used on this site: Findings; fact imm_dc_share_of_increase_2025_26 (Data status)

Accessed October 8, 2026

Data center power demands drive record power auction prices with varying impacts on Maryland customers

Maryland's consumer advocate on what the 2026/27 auction means for each Maryland utility's customers.

• Price rose to a record $329 per MW-day from $270, which itself was about nine times the prior year.
• For BGE customers the auction-related part of the bill falls about $3.36 a month (BGE's zone price dropped), but bills remain about $16 a month higher than two auctions earlier.
• Says data centers, mostly outside Maryland, drove more than 60% of the 2025/26 cost increase.

Compared with this site: Matches this site's Maryland case, where prices rose with little local data center load.

Draws on: 2026/2027 Base Residual Auction Report (PJM Interconnection, 2025); IMM Analysis of the 2025/2026 RPM Base Residual Auction, Part G (revised) (Monitoring Analytics (PJM Independent Market Monitor), 2025)

Cited by: How much have data centers increased electricity prices? (McCullough, 2026)

Used on this site: Findings; Methods

Accessed October 8, 2026

2026/2027 Base Residual Auction Report

Official results of the first auction to clear at the negotiated price cap across all of PJM.

• All zones cleared at the $329.17 per MW-day cap; 134,311 MW cleared.
• Total auction cost was $16.1 billion, up 9.5% from 2025/26.

Cited by: IMM Analysis of the 2026/2027 RPM Base Residual Auction, Part A (Monitoring Analytics (PJM Independent Market Monitor), 2025); Projected data center growth spurs PJM capacity prices by factor of 10 (Kunkel, 2025); Data center power demands drive record power auction prices with varying impacts on Maryland customers (Maryland Office of People's Counsel, 2025)

Used on this site: Methods

Accessed October 8, 2026

IMM Analysis of the 2025/2026 RPM Base Residual Auction, Part G (revised)

Sensitivity analysis of the 2025/26 auction with and without existing and forecast data center load.

• Of 8,453 MW of large-load additions PJM forecast for 2026, data centers were 7,892 MW (93%).
• Removing forecast data center load would have sharply lowered 2025/26 prices and revenues; the monitor's estimate of the data center effect is about $9.3 billion.

Draws on: 2025/2026 Base Residual Auction Report (PJM Interconnection, 2024)

Cited by: 2025 State of the Market Report for PJM (Monitoring Analytics (PJM Independent Market Monitor), 2026); Projected data center growth spurs PJM capacity prices by factor of 10 (Kunkel, 2025); Data center power demands drive record power auction prices with varying impacts on Maryland customers (Maryland Office of People's Counsel, 2025); How much have data centers increased electricity prices? (McCullough, 2026)

Used on this site: Findings; fact imm_dc_share_of_increase_2025_26 (Data status)

Accessed October 8, 2026

Drivers of PJM's Capacity Market Price Surge and the Impact to DC Electric Customers

Breaks down the 2025/26 capacity price surge and its effect on DC customers' bills.

• Attributes the surge to higher forecast load, market rule changes that revalued supply, and plant retirements and reliability-must-run arrangements.
• Pepco customers faced roughly $20 more on the average monthly bill from June 2025.

Compared with this site: Similar order of magnitude to this site's capacity cost per home for restructured PJM states.

Draws on: 2025/2026 Base Residual Auction Report (PJM Interconnection, 2024)

Accessed October 8, 2026

2025/2026 Base Residual Auction Report

Official results of the auction in which PJM capacity prices rose ninefold.

• RTO clearing price rose from $28.92 to $269.92 per MW-day; BGE cleared at $466.35 and Dominion at $444.26.
• Total auction cost rose from about $2.2 billion to $14.7 billion.

Cited by: IMM Analysis of the 2025/2026 RPM Base Residual Auction, Part G (revised) (Monitoring Analytics (PJM Independent Market Monitor), 2025); Drivers of PJM's Capacity Market Price Surge and the Impact to DC Electric Customers (Synapse Energy Economics for the DC Office of the People's Counsel, 2025)

Used on this site: Methods; fact dominion_rpm_entry (Data status)

Accessed October 8, 2026

Data centers lowered electric bills in some places — for now

Radio report on the EPRI and Berkeley Lab findings and why the price-lowering effect may not last.

• Residential rates would have been about 6% higher without data centers built from 2019 to 2024 (EPRI).
• Notes polling in which about two-thirds of Americans expect data centers to raise costs.

Draws on: Have Data Centers Raised Your Electric Bill? Causal Evidence from the United States (Watten et al., 2026); Recent Retail Electricity Price Trends: What Do We Know… or Think We Know? (Wiser and Hledik, 2025)

Accessed October 8, 2026

Ask an expert: Are data centers driving up my electricity bills?

Penn State law professor Hannah Wiseman explains how data centers can raise household bills and what Pennsylvania has done.

• Infrastructure built for a data center is spread across all of a utility's customers, and added demand raises regional wholesale prices.
• Cooling is roughly 40% of a data center's electricity use.
• Pennsylvania's governor pressed PJM into the capacity price cap that has bound in recent auctions.

Compared with this site: Same two channels the site separates: regional wholesale and capacity costs (measured here) and local infrastructure costs (not yet measured).

Accessed October 8, 2026

Have Data Centers Raised Your Electric Bill? Causal Evidence from the United States

State-level causal study using the 1947 Interstate Highway Plan (fiber routes) as an instrument for where data centers were built; finds they modestly lowered retail rates from 2015 to 2024.

• Doubling data center capacity lowered residential prices about 3.5% for a fixed level of demand.
• Data center growth from 2019 to 2024 lowered average residential rates about 6% versus no growth.
• No sign of cost shifting between customer classes or of spillovers to neighboring states.
• Warns the effect could reverse if supply constraints bind or projected load does not materialize.

Compared with this site: Agrees with this site's local result (more local load goes with slightly lower residential prices); like the site, it flags supply shortfalls as the way costs could rise.

Draws on: Recent Retail Electricity Price Trends: What Do We Know… or Think We Know? (Wiser and Hledik, 2025); Powering Intelligence: Updated U.S. Data Center Scenarios (Electric Power Research Institute, 2026)

Cited by: Data centers lowered electric bills in some places — for now (Epp, 2026)

Used on this site: Findings; Methods; fact epri_dc_rate_effect_2019_2024_pct (Data status)

Accessed October 8, 2026

How much have data centers increased electricity prices?

Fact-check of a senator's claim that bills near data centers rose up to 267% in five years; rated Mostly False.

• The 267% figure was a wholesale price, which makes up only about 30% to 50% of a residential bill.
• Average residential prices rose about 42% nationally over five years, more in DC (94%) and Maryland (74%).

Compared with this site: Draws the same wholesale-versus-retail distinction this site's findings rest on.

Draws on: How AI Data Centers Are Sending Your Power Bill Soaring (Bloomberg News, 2025); IMM Analysis of the 2025/2026 RPM Base Residual Auction, Part G (revised) (Monitoring Analytics (PJM Independent Market Monitor), 2025); Data center power demands drive record power auction prices with varying impacts on Maryland customers (Maryland Office of People's Counsel, 2025); Recent Retail Electricity Price Trends: What Do We Know… or Think We Know? (Wiser and Hledik, 2025)

Accessed October 8, 2026

Electric & Gas Customer Choice Data

Monthly counts of Massachusetts electric customers on basic service, individual competitive supply, and town aggregation, by utility and rate class, published quarterly.

• Covers the investor-owned utilities (Eversource, National Grid, Unitil) from 2020; town aggregation is reported separately from 2021.
• As of June 2026, about 76% of these utilities' residential customers were on competitive supply or town aggregation, 55% through towns.

Compared with this site: The source of the site's Massachusetts customer split; added to the site by hand each quarter because mass.gov blocks automated downloads.

Used on this site: Findings

Accessed October 13, 2026

2026 Competitive Supply Report

The Attorney General's annual analysis of what Massachusetts households on individual competitive electric supply contracts pay compared with their utility's basic service, from utility billing data.

• Individual residential customers on competitive supply paid $738.7 million more than basic service would have cost from July 2015 to June 2025.
• The most recent year studied (July 2024 to June 2025) added a net loss of $87.4 million.
• Covers individual contracts only; town (municipal) aggregation programs are not part of the analysis.
• Finds suppliers charge low-income customers higher rates than other customers.

Compared with this site: Different populations: the Attorney General counts individual contracts only, which cost more than basic service; this site's statewide supplier average from EIA also includes town aggregation and came in slightly below basic service over 2015 to 2024. Together they point to aggregation, not individual contracts, as the cheaper route.

Used on this site: Findings; fact ago_individual_supply_loss_musd (Data status); fact ago_individual_supply_loss_latest_musd (Data status)

Accessed October 13, 2026

Retail Electricity Price Trends and Drivers: 2026 Edition

Annual update of the Berkeley Lab retail price review, adding 2025.

• All-sector average retail prices rose 5.3% in nominal terms and 2.6% after inflation in 2025.
• From 2019 to 2025, nominal residential prices rose 33%, commercial 26%, and industrial 27%.

Draws on: Recent Retail Electricity Price Trends: What Do We Know… or Think We Know? (Wiser and Hledik, 2025)

Accessed October 8, 2026

Data Center Power Demands Are Contributing to Higher Energy Bills

Policy explainer tying data center demand to rising generation costs, rate requests, and household arrears.

• Utilities received over 700 GW of interconnection requests in 2025 and requested $29 billion in rate increases in the first half of 2025, double a year earlier.
• New gas plant costs roughly tripled since 2022 (about $785/kW to $2,400/kW), with turbine waits of up to 7 years.
• About 21 million households (1 in 6) were behind on utility bills; arrears reached about $25 billion.

Compared with this site: Documents real cost pressures (new generation, rate cases) but attributes rising bills to data centers without separating other causes; repeats the wholesale 267% figure.

Draws on: How AI Data Centers Are Sending Your Power Bill Soaring (Bloomberg News, 2025); Power Demand Forecasts: How Electricity Demand Will Grow, and Its Impact on Affordability (ICF, 2025); The Cost of Power: How Soaring Electric Rates Are Deepening the Energy Affordability Crisis (National Energy Assistance Directors Association, 2025); How High Are Household Energy Burdens? An Assessment of National and Metropolitan Energy Burdens across the U.S. (American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, 2024)

Accessed October 8, 2026

Recent Retail Electricity Price Trends: What Do We Know… or Think We Know?

National review of what has driven retail electricity prices since 2019, by state and cost component.

• National average retail prices have roughly tracked inflation; only a few states saw material real increases.
• States with the most load growth generally saw real prices fall (over 1 cent/kWh in the highest-growth states).
• Main drivers of increases were transmission and distribution spending, extreme weather and wildfire costs, natural gas prices, and some state policies.

Compared with this site: Consistent with this site's finding that local load growth has not raised local residential prices.

Cited by: Have Data Centers Raised Your Electric Bill? Causal Evidence from the United States (Watten et al., 2026); Retail Electricity Price Trends and Drivers: 2026 Edition (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 2026); How much have data centers increased electricity prices? (McCullough, 2026); Data centers lowered electric bills in some places — for now (Epp, 2026)

Used on this site: Findings; Methods

Accessed October 8, 2026

How AI Data Centers Are Sending Your Power Bill Soaring

Analysis of wholesale prices at about 25,000 grid nodes (via Grid Status) since 2020, compared with distance to data center activity.

• Wholesale prices in some months were up to 267% higher than five years earlier near major data center activity.
• 73% of nodes with price increases were within 50 miles of significant data center activity, versus 20% of nodes with decreases.

Compared with this site: Measures wholesale prices near data centers; this site measures residential retail prices by utility, which include fixed delivery costs and show no local increase relative to regional peers.

Cited by: How much have data centers increased electricity prices? (McCullough, 2026); AI Data Centers: Big Tech's Impact on Electric Bills, Water, and More (Greenfield, 2026); Data Center Power Demands Are Contributing to Higher Energy Bills (Yañez-Barnuevo, 2026)

Accessed October 8, 2026

Georgia PSC approves plan to freeze Georgia Power base rates through at least 2028

The Georgia PSC unanimously approved a stipulation keeping Georgia Power's base rates unchanged through at least 2028.

• Base rates (excluding fuel) frozen through at least the end of 2028.
• Storm costs, including Hurricane Helene, handled in a separate proceeding in 2026.

Used on this site: Methods; fact georgia_base_rates_frozen_through (Data status)

Accessed October 8, 2026

Connection Costs Loophole Costs Customers Over $4 Billion to Connect Data Centers to Power Grid

Reviews utility filings in seven PJM states for transmission projects built to connect individual data centers, and who pays for them.

• In 2024 alone, about $4.3 billion of data center connection costs were approved for recovery from all customers.
• Of 130 projects identified, over 95% passed all connection costs to general ratepayers.
• Largest totals were in Virginia ($1.9 billion) and Ohio ($1.3 billion).

Compared with this site: Describes a cost channel (local transmission) this site does not yet measure; those costs would add to the regional capacity cost shown here.

Cited by: Data centers 'primary reason' for high PJM capacity prices: market monitor (Howland, 2025); What AI data centers could mean for your electric bill (Wiseman, 2026)

Accessed October 8, 2026

California's 2026 Data Center Laws: What You Need to Know

Law firm summary of seven California data center laws signed in 2026, most effective January 1, 2027.

• SB 886 assigns transmission upgrade costs to data centers, limits refunds, and adds early-exit fees; AB 2383 requires data center generation tariffs (25 MW and up) by 2028; SB 1168 directs the CPUC to study data center rates that protect residential customers.
• AB 1577 requires annual energy reporting for facilities of 10 MW or more; AB 2619 requires water-use reporting.
• SB 887 ends CEQA exemptions for data centers; AB 2469 requires water-supply assessments.

Compared with this site: AB 1577's energy reporting could give this site measured data center use in California.

Accessed October 8, 2026

AI data centers: How much are ratepayers on the hook for?

Competing ratepayer-protection bills in Congress, and why no single number captures what households pay for data centers.

• The Ratepayer Protection Act (Sen. Jon Husted) passed the House in September 2026; Senate Democrats back the GRID Savings Act (Sen. Martin Heinrich), arguing the first bill's protections are voluntary.
• PJM's market monitor estimates data centers have cost PJM's 67 million customers about $29 billion over roughly two years.
• One estimate puts Maryland households' added cost at about $168 to $216 a year, mainly from the data center boom.
• Experts say pass-through depends on each utility's supply contracts, rates, and regulators, and that nondisclosure agreements hide what data centers pay.

Compared with this site: Describes the same regional spread of capacity costs the site measures. The Maryland estimate is not sourced in the story, so the site does not compare against it.

Draws on: 2025 State of the Market Report for PJM (Monitoring Analytics (PJM Independent Market Monitor), 2026); Extracting Profits from the Public: How Utility Ratepayers Are Paying for Big Tech's Power (Martin and Peskoe, 2025)

Accessed October 8, 2026

What AI data centers could mean for your electric bill

Policy essay recommending how states should assign data center costs.

• Residential prices rose from about 13 cents/kWh in 2016 to nearly 20 cents in 2026 (BLS).
• Recommends that data centers pay directly for new infrastructure, minimum contract terms with exit fees, and public disclosure of utility agreements.

Draws on: Connection Costs Loophole Costs Customers Over $4 Billion to Connect Data Centers to Power Grid (Jacobs, 2025); Energy and AI (International Energy Agency, 2025)

Accessed October 8, 2026

Study for Amazon on rate design to manage large-load growth

Industry-funded case studies comparing what four Amazon data centers pay their utilities with the cost of serving them.

• In all four territories studied (PG&E, Umatilla Electric, Dominion, Entergy Mississippi) the facilities covered their cost of service.
• For a 100 MW facility, estimated surplus revenue of about $3.4 million in 2025 and $6.1 million in 2030 that can benefit other customers.

Compared with this site: Consistent with the site's local result, but funded by a data center operator and limited to four facilities.

Accessed October 8, 2026

SCC Issues Order in Dominion Energy Virginia's 2025 Biennial Review

Final order raising Dominion's base rates and creating a separate rate class for customers of 25 MW or more.

• Approved base-rate increases of $565.7 million in 2026 and $209.9 million in 2027.
• A typical residential bill rises about $11.24 a month in 2026 and $2.36 more in 2027, before fuel and riders.
• New GS-5 class (25 MW or more) from January 1, 2027, with minimum demand charges of 85% of contracted transmission and distribution demand and 60% of generation demand.

Used on this site: Findings; Methods; fact dominion_base_rate_increase_usd_month (Data status); fact dominion_gs5_min_mw (Data status)

Accessed October 8, 2026

How data centers may lead to higher electricity bills

Interview with Ari Peskoe (Harvard Electricity Law Initiative) on the two ways data centers can raise household bills.

• Utilities spread the cost of new lines and plants built for data centers across all customers.
• Where utilities buy power in markets, demand growing faster than supply raises prices for everyone.

Compared with this site: The second channel is the one this site measures (PJM capacity costs); the first works through utility rate cases, which the site does not yet track.

Draws on: Extracting Profits from the Public: How Utility Ratepayers Are Paying for Big Tech's Power (Martin and Peskoe, 2025)

Accessed October 8, 2026

Texas Senate Bill 6 (89th Legislature) on large loads in ERCOT

Texas law setting interconnection, cost-sharing, and emergency curtailment rules for loads of 75 MW or more in ERCOT.

• Large loads pay study fees and a greater share of interconnection costs, and must disclose on-site backup generation.
• In emergencies ERCOT can direct large loads to curtail or switch to backup power; new loads after 2025 need remote-disconnect capability.
• Directs the state commission to review whether all loads contribute fairly to transmission cost recovery.

Accessed October 8, 2026

Extracting Profits from the Public: How Utility Ratepayers Are Paying for Big Tech's Power

Legal review of nearly 50 state proceedings on utility rates and special contracts for data centers.

• Regulators often approve data center special contracts in short orders with little analysis, and terms are frequently confidential.
• Gaps between federally set transmission and wholesale rates and state-set retail rates can leave other customers paying for infrastructure built for data centers, including for load that never arrives.

Compared with this site: The site compares utility-wide average prices, which would not reveal cost shifts hidden in special contracts; EPRI reports no systematic shifting between customer classes.

Cited by: AI Data Centers: Big Tech's Impact on Electric Bills, Water, and More (Greenfield, 2026); How data centers may lead to higher electricity bills (Reed, 2025); AI data centers: How much are ratepayers on the hook for? (Neuman, 2026)

Accessed October 8, 2026

Data Centers in Virginia (Report 598)

Virginia's legislative audit of the data center industry's economic, energy, and local impacts.

• Data centers currently pay their full cost of service under Dominion's rates.
• Unconstrained growth could raise a typical Dominion residential customer's generation and transmission costs by about $14 to $37 a month by 2040, after inflation.

Compared with this site: Agrees with the site that local data center load has not yet raised Dominion's residential prices relative to peers, but projects future increases.

Accessed October 8, 2026

2025 Long-Term Reliability Assessment

NERC's 10-year outlook for supply adequacy across North America.

• 13 of 23 assessment areas face resource adequacy challenges over the next decade; AI data centers drive most projected load growth.
• PJM, MISO, ERCOT, and two western subregions could reach high risk by 2030.

Compared with this site: Consistent with the site's reliability note that the risk is forward-looking supply, not the local outages measured so far.

Used on this site: Findings

Accessed October 8, 2026

The Cost of Power: How Soaring Electric Rates Are Deepening the Energy Affordability Crisis

State energy assistance directors' tally of household utility arrears and shutoffs.

• About 21 million households (1 in 6) are behind on energy bills; arrears rose from about $17.5 billion (end of 2023) to $23 billion (mid-2025), heading toward $25 billion.
• Shutoffs rose from 3.0 million (2023) to 3.5 million (2024), with about 4.0 million projected for 2025.

Compared with this site: Measures affordability stress directly; the site's energy burden layer estimates it from average bills and income.

Cited by: Data Center Power Demands Are Contributing to Higher Energy Bills (Yañez-Barnuevo, 2026)

Accessed October 8, 2026

How High Are Household Energy Burdens? An Assessment of National and Metropolitan Energy Burdens across the U.S.

National and city energy burden estimates from the 2021 American Housing Survey.

• Median household energy burden was 2.9%; for low-income households 8.3%.
• About a quarter of low-income households spend more than 15% of income on energy.
• Black households' median burden is 43% higher than non-Hispanic white households'.

Compared with this site: Covers all home energy; the site's tract burden covers electricity only, so its median (about 2.2%) is lower.

Cited by: Data Center Power Demands Are Contributing to Higher Energy Bills (Yañez-Barnuevo, 2026)

Accessed October 8, 2026

AI Data Centers: Big Tech's Impact on Electric Bills, Water, and More

Consumer-facing investigation of data centers' effects on bills, water, air, traffic, and local budgets, with a national survey.

• In a November 2025 Consumer Reports survey of 2,146 US adults, 78% were concerned new data centers will raise their energy bills.
• Residential prices rose 7.1% in 2025, more than double inflation; repeats Bloomberg's 267% figure, which describes wholesale prices.
• Large facilities can use up to 5 million gallons of water a day; about two-thirds of data centers built since 2022 are in water-stressed regions.
• 25 of 31 Virginia localities with data centers had nondisclosure agreements with developers (University of Mary Washington researchers).

Compared with this site: Broader than this site (water, air, jobs, secrecy); on bills it leans on wholesale price figures, which differ from the retail prices measured here.

Draws on: How AI Data Centers Are Sending Your Power Bill Soaring (Bloomberg News, 2025); 2024 United States Data Center Energy Usage Report (Shehabi, 2024); Extracting Profits from the Public: How Utility Ratepayers Are Paying for Big Tech's Power (Martin and Peskoe, 2025); Drained by Data: The Cumulative Impact of Data Centers on Regional Water Stress (Ceres, 2025); Data Center Watch Report, Q2 2025 Update (Data Center Watch, 2025); Local Opposition to Data Centers Is Surging. So Are Canceled Projects. (Meyer, 2026); Energy and AI (International Energy Agency, 2025)

Accessed October 8, 2026

Local Opposition to Data Centers Is Surging. So Are Canceled Projects.

Review of public records and press accounts of data center projects canceled after local opposition.

• At least 25 projects were canceled after local opposition in 2025, up from 6 in 2024 and 2 in 2023; together at least 4.7 GW of demand.
• About 99 of roughly 770 planned data centers faced organized opposition; water use was the most cited concern (over 40% of contested projects), then electricity prices.

Compared with this site: Cancellations bear on this site's pipeline totals, which count proposed sites until a source marks them cancelled.

Cited by: AI Data Centers: Big Tech's Impact on Electric Bills, Water, and More (Greenfield, 2026)

Accessed October 8, 2026

Drained by Data: The Cumulative Impact of Data Centers on Regional Water Stress

Estimates direct and indirect water use from data centers built and planned in the Phoenix area.

• Direct cooling water use could rise from 385 million to over 3.7 billion gallons a year (about 870%) as planned centers come online.
• Indirect water use from the electricity they consume could grow about 400%, to over 14.5 billion gallons.

Cited by: AI Data Centers: Big Tech's Impact on Electric Bills, Water, and More (Greenfield, 2026)

Accessed October 8, 2026

Data Center Watch Report, Q2 2025 Update

Quarterly tally of US data center projects blocked or delayed by local opposition.

• From late March to June 2025, 20 projects worth about $98 billion were blocked or delayed, more than in all of 2023 through early 2025 ($64 billion).
• 53 active local groups in 17 states targeted 30 projects in the quarter; 188 groups nationwide.

Cited by: AI Data Centers: Big Tech's Impact on Electric Bills, Water, and More (Greenfield, 2026)

Accessed October 8, 2026

What Happens When Data Centers Come to Town?

Policy brief on data centers' effects on local utility rates, water, tax revenue, and climate goals, with recommendations for states.

• Argues data centers raise local rates through infrastructure costs passed to residents and long-term power deals that tighten supply.
• Finds tax incentives deliver few jobs and reduce local revenue, including for schools.
• Recommends energy audits, efficiency standards, usage reporting, renewable additionality, and repealing or avoiding tax breaks.

Compared with this site: Asserts local rate increases without measuring them; this site's utility-level comparison finds no average local increase relative to regional peers, though individual utilities can differ.

Accessed October 8, 2026

U.S. Data Centers Tracker

Open facility-level map of existing and proposed data centers with power, status, and community context.

• Over 1,400 sites, about 800 of them in pre-development or construction.
• Adds community advocacy, demographics, environmental justice, and nearby power plant context.

Compared with this site: The site's main source of proposed data centers and reported power (non-commercial terms, with attribution).

Accessed October 8, 2026

EIA Launches Pilot Survey on Energy Use at Data Centers

EIA began voluntary pilot surveys of data center energy use in Texas, Washington state, and Northern Virginia and DC.

• Targets 196 companies operating data centers in the three regions; web surveys in Texas and Washington, interviews in Virginia and DC.
• Asks about energy sources, electricity use, site characteristics, servers, and cooling.

Compared with this site: If EIA publishes facility-level use, it could replace this site's estimated power for many sites.

Draws on: Data Centers and Their Energy Consumption: Frequently Asked Questions (R48646) (Offutt and Zhu, 2025)

Accessed October 8, 2026

IM3 Open Source Data Center Atlas

Open dataset of US data center locations from OpenStreetMap, with footprints and projected hyperscale siting.

• Street-level locations with building footprints and county assignment.
• Includes projections of where new hyperscale data centers are most likely to be sited.

Accessed October 8, 2026