If you’re a utility customer in the US, you’ve likely seen your rates go up this year.
Residents in at least 41 states and Washington, D.C., are experiencing increased electric and natural gas bills now or will see increases in 2026, according to a new report from the Center for American Progress.
Costs are rising largely due to the AI data center development boom and the resulting strain it has placed on the country’s aging electric grid.
The good news is that, depending on which state you live in and your electricity provider, you might be able to lower your bill through energy conservation. The bad news is that simple steps such as unplugging devices and turning off the lights when exiting a room are ultimately no match for the pace of rising rates.
Data centers accounted for 4.4% of electricity consumption in the US in 2023, according to a report from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. That amount is expected to triple by 2028.
Utilities across the country are predicting an additional 60 gigawatts of new demand from data centers by the end of the decade. That’s enough electricity to power six major cities.
Major utilities are planning multibillion-dollar infrastructure projects to meet the enormous demand expected to come from AI. Existing regulations will allow much of those costs to be recovered from a utility’s entire customer base.
In August, regulators in Louisiana approved Entergy’s plans to spend $5 billion on three new natural gas plants needed to serve a massive Meta data center in the state. Consumer advocacy groups opposed the plan, arguing that average ratepayers would ultimately bear the cost for one of the world’s largest companies. Similar battles are unfolding before utility regulators in states across the country.
