Full title: After severe 76% electricity price hikes due to AI data centers, Virginia requires firms to pay for all dedicated upstream electrical infrastructure — State regulators crack down, governor says move will save civilians ‘hundreds of millions of dollars’
Utilities should, of course, be priced at the cost to generate, maintain, and distribute the resource. But this is America, home of rampant capitalism. Thus, profit is king. That means utility prices depend on supply and demand.
Data centers use so much power that it creates a resource scarcity. So the utility company raises the price per unit that electricity is sold for in those markets.
Everyone’s bill goes up when data centers are allowed in and shareholder profits skyrocket. Since the shareholders are happy, the powers that be are usually unwilling to address the problem as it is only the peons suffering.
It’s actuality a little surprising that the government is trying to address the problem in this case.