{
  "$type": "site.standard.document",
  "bskyPostRef": {
    "cid": "bafyreigqrkfxg3sizjhp7afe6d6dpgdlol4ohfnf7san5s72oocxb2ucoy",
    "uri": "at://did:plc:mg5ozsljpp6t5b4lvwys4t72/app.bsky.feed.post/3mmu4ljmmcz72"
  },
  "coverImage": {
    "$type": "blob",
    "ref": {
      "$link": "bafkreihzn7ciolhulcnuxjvdt6gfil373q6qshgynp3b3j3qfhadzl444u"
    },
    "mimeType": "image/jpeg",
    "size": 52391
  },
  "description": "Democratic lawmakers push back as tech giants avoid paying their share of grid infrastructure costs.\n",
  "path": "/tech-giants-are-gobbling-up-grid-capacity-consumers-are-getting-the-bill/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-05-27T18:18:02.000Z",
  "site": "https://broadbandbreakfast.com",
  "tags": [
    "70 percent, or $9.3 billion",
    "proposed a 14 percent rate increase",
    "data center developers cover the cost",
    "data centers bring prices down over time"
  ],
  "textContent": "WASHINGTON, May 27, 2026 – Ratepayers, not technology companies, are bearing the cost of energy infrastructure built to power data centers, Democratic lawmakers and policy officials warned Wednesday.\n\nThe call came during a press call examining rising utility costs, with West Virginia emerging as a focal point for a national debate over who should pay when large technology users strain the grid.\n\n**Kayla Young** , a West Virginia state delegate, said large technology companies have shown no interest in contributing their share. \"The hyperscalers aren't even interested in paying their fair share, and we are not taking advantage of that in any capacity,\" she said.\n\nWest Virginia electric rates have risen 73 percent per kilowatt hour over the last 10 years, Young said, despite the state producing enough gas and coal to power most of the East Coast.\n\n\"Nothing is being done to protect ratepayers from dealing with the costs for generation, for transmission, for data centers in West Virginia or nationally,\" she said.\n\nHer concerns reflect a pattern documented nationally. Monitoring Analytics, the independent market watchdog for the mid-Atlantic grid, found that 70 percent, or $9.3 billion, of increased electricity costs in the region last year resulted directly from data center demand.\n\nDominion Energy has proposed a 14 percent rate increase for residential customers in Virginia in 2026, citing data center growth and AI-driven demand.\n\nCongress has begun responding. Rep. **Paul Tonko** , D-N.Y., introduced a House bill in April directing federal regulators to ensure data center developers cover the cost of the power infrastructure they require, rather than shifting those costs to residential and small business ratepayers.\n\nYoung said the Trump administration's voluntary ratepayer protection measure fell short of what was needed. \"I don't know why we would do that. It's a lovely hope, but it doesn't do anything for people,\" she said.\n\nShe added that residents were not confused about what was happening to their bills. \"People aren't angry because their bills are rising, they're angry because they're being robbed blind,\" she said.\n\nNot all observers agree data centers are the primary driver of higher rates. **Steve DelBianco** , chief executive of NetChoice, a technology industry lobbying group, argued in February that data centers bring prices down over time, noting that data center companies have committed to grid improvements and power generation to compensate for their usage.\n\nSen. **Ron Wyden** , D-Ore., pushed back on that argument Wednesday. \"Demand was rising, data centers were already gobbling up huge amounts of energy,\" he said, arguing that Republicans had gutted wind and solar investments, the cheapest and fastest way to add new electricity to the grid, to fund tax cuts for corporations and wealthy individuals.\n\n\"Americans are now paying for this in the form of higher utility bills, and those bills will just continue to go up and up and up,\" Wyden said.\n\n**Aya Ibrahim** , a former senior policy advisor at the National Economic Council, said energy cost increases were rippling into shipping, agriculture, and medical supplies. \"Energy costs are actually the largest pass-through costs for everything else that consumers would buy,\" she said.\n\nShe added that some increases were now locked in regardless of geopolitical developments. \"Even if the war were to end tomorrow, there are some increases that are now just baked in,\" Ibrahim said.",
  "title": "Tech Giants Are ‘Gobbling Up’ Grid Capacity, Consumers Are Getting the Bill",
  "updatedAt": "2026-06-04T21:47:40.626Z"
}