Trump calls on Big Tech to protect households from AI power costs
The White House has requested formal pledges from US tech giants that the swelling data centre boom will not drive up electricity bills for households, as concern mounts over AI’s energy demands.
Donald Trump has approached behemoths like Microsoft and Alphabet, who have notoriously rallied behind his administration, about signing voluntary, non-binding agreements committing them to “pay their own way” as they build out new infrastructure.
Most notably, the proposal requests that hyper-scale data centre operators cover 100 per cent of the cost of new power and grid updates needed for their facilities.
Firms will also be asked to sign long-term electricity contracts to make sure other customers are not left exposed if demand does fall flat, or if projects end up failing.
The request aims to combat growing anxiety that AI’s explosive growth, and the ‘braggawatts’ needed to power it, could put even more strain on an already stretched grid.
Federal projections estimate data centre electricity demand could triple between 2025 and 2028, adding additional huge amounts of pressure to creaking regional grids; US electricity prices have soared faster than overall inflation in parts of the country; wholesale power costs are on the rise; and consumer bills have become increasingly political ahead of November’s midterm elections.
Trump campaigned on a pledge to halve electricity prices within 18 months of taking office, yet residential power costs have continued to edge higher.
In a January Truth Social post, the President insisted that while data centres are ‘key’ to the AI build-out, the “big technology companies who build them must pay their own way”.
A voluntary compact
The proposed agreement would not carry the force of law, and the White House has said the draft that is circulating may already have evolved.
However, administration officials say public pledges could add a degree of accountability as well as show voters that the government is keen to stop AI infrastructure from inflating living costs across the country.
Under draft principles reported earlier this month, tech giants would work with federal and state regulators to draw up power agreements that “in every manner possible” hold residential customers harmless.
Beyond electricity pricing, data centre developers will also make sure new sites are “water positive”, mitigate noise and traffic disruption, and support local education and community initiatives.
These pledges land as jurisdictions, including Atlanta and New Orleans, have imposed restrictions on new data centre construction, while more than two dozen projects were reportedly delayed or blocked in January alone amid community opposition.
Microsoft has said it will cover the cost of additional grid infrastructure tied to its data centre plans, while Anthropic recently stated that AI firms “shouldn’t leave American ratepayers to pick up the tab”.
Other operators have fought back, arguing they already pay the full cost of their energy usage and that well-designed tariff structures can protect consumers.
In the UK, Ofgem has launched a review of grid connection queues after receiving more than 50 gigawatts of requests linked to data centre projects, which exceeds Britain’s recent peak daily demand.
The regulator warned that surging huge applications risk delaying other critical energy projects across the country.
Data centre planning applications hit an all-time high in the UK in 2025, City PM revealed, as investors rushed to gain a foothold in the burgeoning AI market.
More than 60 separate planning applications for the construction of new data centres were filed in England and Wales over the course of the year, according to a City PM analysis of more than 300 local authority planning databases, representing an increase of 63 per cent compared to 2024.