HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Amid rising electric bills, states are under pressure to insulate regular household and business ratepayers from the costs of feeding Big Tech’s energy-hungry data centers.
It’s not clear that any state has a solution and the actual effect of data centers on electricity bills is difficult to pin down. Some critics question whether states have the spine to take a hard line against tech behemoths like Microsoft, Google, Amazon and Meta.
But more than a dozen states have begun taking steps as data centers drive a rapid build-out of power plants and transmission lines.
We live in a country where food and shelter are becoming cost-prohibitive for many. Does any reasonable person think that the Democrats or Republicans will make any meaningful changes to energy policy, especially when those higher monthly bill payments end up in the pockets of their donors? When there are so many ways for them to legally take
bribesgifts from Big Tech?I sure didn’t think the government would do anything. They’d only make it worse if they tried. And no, I didn’t support pedophiles or whatever.
I’ve been saying this for some time now. If the power companies have to build more generating facilities and infrastructure and operate and maintain all that, they aren’t going to take a financial loss doing it. They will spread the costs among all customers.
If my sister that lives in the middle of nowhere wants to upgrade her service they want to charge her $10k for running a new line. No reason they can’t charge the data center for the upgrades the same way.
No reason they can’t charge the data center for the upgrades the same way.
I’d like to believe that, but I think you and I both know they will find millions of reasons, in their personal bank accounts, helping to explain to them why they can’t charge Big Tech the same costs for electricity.
