Atlanta\u00a0\u2014 It is a sunny afternoon in Atlanta, Georgia, but inside Carolyn Kayne’s 3,000-square-foot home, it is cold.<\/p>\n
“I’m walking around in a ski suit trying to stay warm in the winter,” Kayne told CBS News.<\/p>\n
It is just one of the ways Kayne has tried to beat her skyrocketing electric bills, which have almost doubled in two years.<\/p>\n
She has now turned off her heat and water, leaving much of her home hard to live in.<\/p>\n
“I live in a little apartment in the back,” Kayne explains.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Patty Durand, founder of the nonprofit advocacy group Georgians for Affordable Energy says Carolyn’s situation is not unique.<\/p>\n
“The average bill for an average customer used to be about $150 a month,” Durand said. “The average bill now is $225.”<\/p>\n
A CBS News analysis found that Georgia Power, the largest energy provider in the state, imposed six rate hikes in the last three years.<\/p>\n
During which time, the Vogtle nuclear power plant went online and Georgia saw a boom in data centers. Those data centers, Durand says, came to Georgia for discounted power.<\/p>\n
The growing use of artificial intelligence\u00a0has sparked a demand<\/a>\u00a0for data centers. And across the U.S., new data centers are\u00a0driving up utility bills<\/a>\u00a0in at least 13 states, according to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.<\/p>\n Americans who live near data centers are paying as much as 267% more a month for energy than five years ago, a 2025\u00a0Bloomberg’s analysis<\/a>\u00a0determined.\u00a0<\/p>\n