All over the world, data centers powering your favorite chatbots are guzzling electricity like there’s no tomorrow — and in the U.S. Trump’s energy policy could supercharge the pain.

Your AC Isn’t the Problem. ChatGPT Might Be.

There was a time — not long ago — when you could blame your sky-high summer electric bill on your kids blasting the AC or your partner’s unending laundry habit. But if you live in the U.S., the real culprit might be your favorite AI. That chatbot you use to plan vacations, brainstorm dinner ideas, or write passive-aggressive emails? It lives in a data center that’s chugging electricity like it’s free. Spoiler: it’s not.

The rise of generative AI has sparked a silent but very real energy crisis. According to the Financial Times, AI-related power demand in the U.S. is set to triple by 2030. This has a knock on environmental impact: One Google data center in The Dalles, Oregon, has made headlines by consuming over 25% of the town’s total water. As serious as the concerns around AI and water use are, it's the increasing power bills that are hitting the headlines.

13 States, One Big Problem: The AI Tax

In at least 13 U.S. states, residential electricity prices have jumped thanks to—you guessed it—AI. Virginia, Georgia, and Texas are among the unlucky states already feeling the pinch. Electricity firm PJM Interconnection stated that the price of their wholesale electricity capacity jumped by 22% from 2024. As a result, PJM’s 67 million users could end up seeing bills rise by 5%.

Here’s why: AI data centers, which are required to run 24/7 and manage mind-boggling amounts of computation, demand huge amounts of power. And that demand is forcing utilities to build new infrastructure—new power lines, new substations, and in some cases, new fossil fuel plants. Utilities don’t eat that cost. They pass these costs along to customers.

In Georgia, for example, the local utility, Georgia Power, proposed a 17% rate hike just to keep up with energy demands. The local government stepped in to freeze rates, ending three years of increases. In Virginia, the electricity load from data centers is projected to double in the next decade and rise by up to 183% by 2040.

So when you notice that your bill is higher this month? Thank the Large Language Model in the cloud.

Anyone who thinks this is going to slow down, please raise your hand.

And, if you're suddenly glad you don't live in the States, well, AI-targeted data centers are being built everywhere. And while the U.S. is home to the largest numbers, Germany, the UK and China make up numbers 2-4, and those numbers are growing.

Big Tech’s Data Diet Is Not Sustainable

Big Tech companies are racing to dominate the AI arms race, but that ambition comes with a monstrous energy bill. Nvidia GPUs don’t run on fairy dust. Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud seem to be constantly building new data centers. As Fox News points out, many AI servers consume up to 30 times more power than traditional data centers. And while some are talking the green talk (solar panels, carbon offsets, etc.), the net energy demand still spikes.

And we’re only at the beginning. Reuters has reported that data centers could use around 9% of total U.S. electricity by 2030. This isn’t stopping.

Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” — Big Tech’s Dream, Your Nightmare?

Then there’s the political twist.

Donald Trump’s much-hyped “One Big Beautiful Bill” is reportedly aimed at streamlining energy permits — reducing costs for fossil fuel projects and stripping environmental red tape. Sounds good if you’re ExxonMobil or Big Tech — they need more power and they need it fast But it’s not great if you’re a residential customer hoping for lower utility rates.

According to a report by think-tank Energy Innovation, U.S. wholesale electricity prices will increase by 25% over the next five years and by 74% in the next decade.

Overall, the bill could also undermine efforts to modernize the grid, invest in renewables, or protect consumers from price shocks.

Welcome to the AI-Energy Complex

We’re entering a strange new era where every Google search, every ChatGPT prompt, and every AI-powered “enhancement” has an energy cost — and it’s showing up on electricity bills around the world.

To be clear: AI is a wonderful tool. However, our continuing reliance on fossil fuels, the tech’s impact on the environment and the fact that data centers are proliferating at an incredible rate, has to be cause for concern.

So the next time you ask your AI assistant for help planning a low-cost vacation, remember — it might’ve already made your July more expensive than you thought.

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Source: Finance Magnates