Americans' electricity bills are 30% higher than they were five years ago thanks to data centers

America's data centers could drain as much as 12% of the nation's electricity in the next three years.

Charles A Fazio/Bloomberg via Getty

Electricity bills are about to get higher for Americans. That is, unless big tech companies foot the bill for their enormous data centers.

Owned by the likes of Amazon, Google, Apple, Microsoft, and Meta, these data centers drained more than 4% of the nation’s electricity in 2023, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. The government agency predicts that number will double or triple to as much as 12% of the country’s electricity by 2028.

Much of this rapid increase is thanks to the rise of AI, which uses up far more energy than browsing a website or streaming movies, the New York Times reported.

On average, Americans are paying 30% more for electricity compared to 2020, the publication reported. Electricity bills are on track to rise an average of 8% nationwide by 2030, according to an analysis by Carnegie Mellon University and North Carolina State University. In states with the most data centers, like Virginia, bills could increase as much as 25%.

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