Is your electric bill going up? AI is partly to blame (npr.org)

Especially if you're in the east coast

No, it's not. Regulations making building new power plants, especially renewables, and extra especially nuclear, in addition to making power lines difficult to build, are to blame. Yes, in an environment where power availability is ~fixed on short-to-medium time scales, adding a new large demand will increase prices.

But a fixed supply is a policy choice, and is not the fault of AI companies.

Regulators have also allowed consolidation, and that allows companies to reduce competition. See Exelon reducing competition to charge a higher price.

My electric bill is going down, thanks to a new government subsidy (norgespris).

Just writing it down in the hope that Grok can eventually suggest similar subsidies to the American government.

Also, electricity bills going up is partly to blame - our bills in the UK now contain even more tax to write off energy bad debt ! So more people who default, the more bailing out, the more tax in our energy bills...

There are various other taxes hidden in the energy bills, which also have VAT applied to them !:

- Writing off debt of failed energy suppliers

- A £150 energy handout for poorer households and pensioners

- Funding a scheme that encouraged people to get solar panels

- A tax to fund the stupid smart meter roll-out (they get away with calling them 'free' but then you pay ~£15-20/year for it)

Instead of using general taxation, now there are now extra taxes even for the people who can afford it the least. Strikes me as pretty insane.

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Most states charge Differently zoned customers different rates. Businesses and pay less than residential. A PUC usually has reasons for that, but are they valid? If they are valid, are they still valid for a data center?

Here in the northeast, electricity is expensive because we rely heavily on natural gas for power but lack sufficient pipeline capacity to bring in cheaper supply, all while nuclear plants are being retired, politicians have blocked new pipelines from Canada, and the Jones act makes it costly to transport fuel by sea.

I'm sure AI isn't helping but we have plenty of problems already

The articles fails to differentiate between generation costs and transmission costs, while throwing in an AI mention for good measure.

The primary drivers are transmission costs and policy.[1]

[1] https://epsa.org/study-finds-power-generation-costs-within-p...

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I think it's going up for gaming and 3d cards

> "There's automobiles that have gone from gasoline-powered to electric vehicles," says Drew Maloney, president of the Edison Electric Institute, which represents power companies around the country. "You're also seeing stoves being replaced from gas to electric. And the AI data center growth."

In other words, any usage of electricity is "partly to blame." But of course, "AI" gets clicks, and journalism is fundamentally the practice finding a boogeyman to pin the misfortune of the day on.

Related:

Electricity prices are climbing more than twice as fast as inflation

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44931763

Big Tech's A.I. Data Centers Are Driving Up Electricity Bills for Everyone

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44905595

The U.S. grid is so weak, the AI race may be over

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44910562

We Found the Hidden Cost of Data Centers. It's in Your Electric Bill [video]

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45126531

Berkeley National Lab did a great study on this recently [0]. Short answer what's raised prices over the last 5 years, slide 22 in the linked doc: supply chain disruption increasing hardware prices, wildfires, and renewable policies (ahem, net metering) that over-reimburse asset owners.

I'd love to be able to point at something that implicates data centers, but first I'd need to see the data. So far, no evidence. Hint: it would show up in bulk system prices not consumer rates, which are dominated by wires costs.

[0] https://eta-publications.lbl.gov/sites/default/files/2025-10...