Democratic Senators Investigate Data Centers' Impact on Electricity Prices

Three Democratic US senators, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, announced an investigation into whether major tech companies are passing the rising utility costs from energy-intensive data centers onto consumers.

They sent letters to Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, and data center operators CoreWeave, Digital Realty, and Equinix, requesting information on their data centers, energy usage, and actions taken to prevent costs from being shifted to electric bills.

The senators expressed alarm at reports indicating that regions with significant data center activity have experienced electricity price increases of up to 267% over the past five years, while the average US family’s electricity bill rose by 7% year-over-year as of September.

They demanded that data centers and tech firms contribute fairly to electricity costs and asked for responses by January 12. The investigation comes amid concerns that data centers could account for 12% of the US's power consumption by 2028, and the senators highlighted the significant environmental impact of these centers, including high water usage and carbon emissions.

Local opposition to data center projects has already blocked or delayed approximately $64 billion in developments, with concerns rising about the transparency of contracts between data centers and utility companies, which are often kept confidential, leaving consumers unaware of the reasons behind increasing electric bills.

Digital Realty stated it looks forward to collaborating with elected officials, while Google, Amazon, CoreWeave, and Equinix did not immediately respond to requests for comments, and Meta and Microsoft declined to comment.