In a surprising statement delivered last week, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright indicated that Republicans are ” for the escalating energy costs. I am hopeful he is right.
During his campaign, President Donald Trump made a commitment to reduce Americans’ energy by the conclusion of his initial year in office. Instead, energy expenses for Americans are currently soaring.
As a result, millions of Americans are struggling through heatwaves and receiving electricity bills that feel equally scorching. This is what I refer to as a “heatwave economy,” where extreme heat converges with corporate-driven utility price hikes, and working families are left to bear the cost while trillion-dollar tech companies accrue profits.
Across various regions, residential consumers are observing their electricity prices climb by $17 to $27 per month. That amounts to over $300 annually in additional household expenses solely for energy. The primary cause isn’t just your air conditioning. AI data centers are consuming significant amounts of energy, driving up electricity prices, and straining an already precarious energy grid. So far this year, utility companies have submitted requests for price increases as a direct consequence of AI demand.
Trump and the Republican Party pledged to lower costs for Americans. However, by providing incentives and encouraging Big Tech to rapidly expand energy-intensive AI infrastructure with minimal oversight, they have caused energy costs to escalate. And this represents just one facet of the GOP’s broader strategy of deregulation and privatization, which prioritizes corporate profit over public well-being.
AI data centers, which are vast facilities housing the equipment that powers large language models like ChatGPT, require a constant, high-intensity energy supply. Companies such as, , , and are constructing these at a scale and speed that utility providers were not equipped to handle. U.S. data center energy demand is projected to nearly double by 2030, potentially reaching up to of total U.S. power consumption. These energy demands are reshaping the grid in real-time, compelling utilities to defer clean energy upgrades and reactivate fossil fuel power plants. Some tech firms, including Amazon Web Services, are even seeking to connect existing baseload power plants directly to their facilities, thereby redirecting supply from the public.
In many areas, electricity prices are determined by competitive wholesale markets. When demand surges, prices also increase. Utility companies, especially investor-owned ones with a guaranteed rate of return, directly pass these elevated costs onto consumers. In the alone, which encompasses parts of the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic, data centers contributed to a more than 800% rise in capacity auction prices this summer, leading to a 22% increase in wholesale electricity rates. Residents could face over the next five years. Without additional grid capacity or clean energy alternatives, these costs will continue to impact household budgets.
Rising energy costs disproportionately affect low-income households, renters, rural communities, and communities of color who already experience the highest in the country. Moreover, the detrimental effects extend beyond increased bills: in , an xAI data center has drawn criticism for polluting the air through 35 unpermitted methane turbines, which emit greenhouse gases and carcinogenic formaldehyde above federal limits in a predominantly Black neighborhood. In the explosive growth of data centers has strained the grid so severely that local officials have issued warnings about power reliability risks. And across central Texas, Microsoft AI water usage is believed to be contributing to droughts, forcing residents to take .
Meanwhile, the companies responsible for these costs are reporting unprecedented profits. Nvidia, the leading supplier of chips for AI data centers, recently achieved a . The very infrastructure that is driving up utility prices and polluting frontline communities is simultaneously generating historic wealth for corporations and shareholders.
This situation was not unavoidable. The was designed to meet increasing energy demand by significantly expanding clean, affordable energy. As a former Senior Advisor at the U.S. Treasury, I assisted in implementing IRA tax credits that supported grid upgrades, distributed solar, and public power. These investments were aimed at reducing household energy costs while preparing the grid for novel technologies like AI. However, this July, Republicans withdrew those incentives, precisely as AI demand is surging. In their place, a is promoting the rapid expansion of data centers with scant environmental or economic accountability.
If AI companies wish to build their future upon public infrastructure, they must fulfill their obligation by paying their equitable share of energy costs, funding the development of clean energy, supporting public policies that accelerate that transition, and investing in grid resilience and the communities most affected by escalating bills. Some states are implementing measures that require large energy users to pay more. That is a beginning, but a national strategy is urgently needed.
This is not about opposing all data center development, which is an essential component of the country’s economic growth. It is about rejecting a system where large technology companies transfer financial and environmental burdens onto working families. It is about calling out exploitative corporate power, political shortsightedness, and demanding accountability that safeguards the public interest. The AI boom is here, but that does not mean we must accept a model that will exacerbate inequality, deplete our grids, and compel households to subsidize corporate avarice.
Secretary Wright is correct. Republicans ought to be held responsible for this—because their actions have warranted it.
