BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK/KBFX) President Donald Trump on Thursday announced an expansion of the Ratepayer Protection Pledge, an effort aimed at preventing data centers, which use massive amounts of power, from driving up electricity bills for consumers.
“We are to continue the incredible progress we’re making in communities nationwide to ensure that as new data centers go up and its, they are going up all over, electricity bills for American families will actually come down,” Trump said.
The pledge calls for tech and data center companies to fund upgrades to the electric grid needed to support the centers and to hire locally to build them.
Trump expands ratepayer protection pledge to keep data centers from raising bills (PHOTO BY NATHAN HOWARD/GETTY IMAGES)
The announcement comes as lawmakers are also looking at legislation aimed at mitigating the impact of data centers on electric bills.
“This is how we will grow our economy, lower the cost of living, protect American consumers and lead the world in AI and high tech all at the same time,” Trump said.
The pledge would shift the cost of data centers’ energy use onto tech companies rather than individual ratepayers.
However, it does not force companies to adopt those standards.
Concerns remain about expanding and reconfiguring the electric grid as demand grows.
In a blog post, Daniel Yang of the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy wrote, “The U.S. electric grid is entering a period of unprecedented change, driven by rising demand from AI data centers, widespread electrification, and the growing role of renewables and storage in meeting baseload needs.”
Trump expands ratepayer protection pledge to keep data centers from raising bills (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Yang also cited five risks tied to grid reconfiguration, including transmission congestion, prices change overtime, unpredictable supply and demand, vulnerabilities from extreme events — like severe weather — that can cause outages, and policy changes that can make the system less reliable.
“And again, we’re leading China and we want to keep it that way,” Trump said.
Trump expands ratepayer protection pledge to keep data centers from raising bills (Photo: KUTV)
“They build a lot of electric. They don’t do environmental impact statements. They just say that you want electric, we’ll build it.”