Digital Economy: Data centres could raise electricity bills by 57 percent, consumers to pay more —Researchers

*A recent study has revealed electricity bills may rise 57 percent by 2030 in the United States due to increased energy appetite of the technology sector cum AI-driven data centres, significantly increasing household electricity costs for power consumers over the next several years

Gbenga Kayode | ConsumerConnect

Following growing concerns about the strain which massive data and computing facilities are placing on a country’s electric grid, a fresh study found the rapid expansion of AI-driven data centres could significantly increase household electricity costs over the next several years.

ConsumerConnect gathered the researchers opined such electricity bills could increase by over 50 percent in the United States (US) in the next four years.

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The new study indicated that power bills particularly might rise by as much as 57 percent by 2030.

The report particularly focused attention on growing concerns about the strain that massive computing facilities are placing on the country’s electric grid.

Companies are racing to build infrastructure to support Artificial Intelligence (AI), cloud computing, and cryptocurrency operations.

Technology experts also found that utilities across the American country are already investing billions of Dollars in new power plants, substations, and transmission lines to meet soaring electricity demand from data centres, agency report said.

These costs are often passed on to residential consumers through higher monthly utility bills.

It was gathered that the cogent issue is especially pronounced in some states that have become major data-centre hubs, including Virginia and Texas, where utilities are seeing unprecedented requests for new grid connections.

Reshaping power demand forecasts

Industry analysts said the AI boom was dramatically reshaping electricity demand forecasts nationwide.

As regards the US data centres’ electricity-demand, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has projected that electricity use by data centres worldwide would more than double by 2030, with AI systems becoming the largest driver of growth.

In the United States, data centres could account for nearly half of all electricity-demand growth by the end of the decade.

According to experts, some industry forecasts are even more alarming.

A federally mandated watchdog overseeing the PJM Interconnection — the country’s largest regional power grid — recently warned that data-centre growth has already contributed to wholesale electricity price spikes exceeding 75 percent in parts of the eastern United States.

Consumer advocates express concerns over increasing power bills

In regard to the development, consumer advocates have argued that ordinary households could end up bearing the financial burden for infrastructure built primarily to serve large technology companies.

Energy analysts warned in recent months that “utilities are expanding the grid to accommodate these massive facilities, and those costs don’t simply disappear.”

Several studies and policy reports have suggested that residential power consumers ultimately, may subsidise upgrades required by hyper-scale computing operations.

Demand rising faster than expected, says report

The study further indicated that energy demand from AI servers is rising far faster than earlier projections anticipated.

Berkeley Lab estimates that US data-centre electricity use more than doubled between 2017 and 2023, and could reach as much as 12 percent of total US electricity consumption by 2028.

Still, critics of the current regulatory framework observed that utilities and state regulators have been slow to address who should pay for the growing energy appetite of the tech sector.

Some lawmakers are now pushing for greater transparency in utility agreements with technology companies, and exploring policies that would require large data-centre operators to shoulder more of the infrastructure costs, and not household electricity consumers.

Despite the concerns, utilities and economic development officials continue to court data-centre investment because of the jobs, tax revenue, and local economic activity the facilities can generate.

Experts yet warned that balancing economic growth with grid reliability and affordability would become increasingly difficult as AI adoption accelerates across the United States.

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