Who Pays? AI Boom Sparks Fight Over Soaring Power Costs

Utilities and technology companies are at odds over who should pay for electricity costs in unprecedented data-center build-out.

Technology companies need an extraordinary amount of electricity to power data centers at the core of the artificial-intelligence race. They don’t want to foot the entire bill.

Across the U.S., utilities are asking tech companies including Google, Microsoft, and Amazon to pay more to connect their new data centers to the power grid. Utility officials are concerned that the cost of new power infrastructure needed to serve data-center demand could raise rates for regular customers.

READ MORE