Some key technologies companies signed a non-binding pledge at the White House on Wednesday that the Trump administration says they will ensure that technology companies do not pass on data center costs to consumers’ utility bills.
“Data centers… need PR help,” President Donald Trump said at the event. “People think that if the data center comes online, their electricity will increase.”
He was accompanied by representatives of Microsoft, Meta, OpenAI, xAI, Google/Alphabet, Oracle and Amazon.
Over the past year, bipartisan anger has exploded over data centers and their potential impact on consumers’ electricity bills. As the White House puts its bet on artificial intelligence, the commitment marks a significant salvo from the Trump administration to assure voters that rising costs will not impact them.
But electricity experts and industry insiders have expressed doubts about how much power the White House actually has to provide meaningful consumer protections.
“This is theater,” says Ari Peskoe, director of the Electricity Law Initiative in the Environmental and Energy Law Program at Harvard Law School. “This is a press release intended to give the impression that they are addressing the issue. But this issue can only really be addressed by utility regulators or Congress. The White House doesn’t have much of a move here, and I don’t think the tech companies themselves are the most important parties on cost issues.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Data centers played a key role in last year’s elections in some states, including Georgia and Virginia, and are being included other breeds they will play across the country this month. Recent vote conducted by Heatmap News shows that less than 30 percent of American voters would support building a data center near where they live. Many states have introduced data center moratoriums in their state legislatures this year, while others have bills that would assist shift costs from the consumer to the companies that build and operate the facilities.
Over the past few months, some major tech companies — including Microsoft i Anthropic—have made various commitments regarding the construction and operation of their data centers. These promises follow numerous reports that the president has sought assurances from technology companies that will assist take data center costs off American consumers.
In behind schedule January, Trump he wrote in a Truth Social post that Democrats were to blame for high electricity costs and that he “worked with major U.S. technology companies” to ensure that “Americans don’t ‘pay the bill’ for their electricity consumption by paying higher utility bills.” Less than a month later, during the State of the Union address, he announced that he would introduce a “ratepayer protection pledge.”
“We are telling the largest technology companies that they have an obligation to meet their own energy needs,” he said. “They can build their own power plants within their factory, so prices won’t go up for anyone, and in many cases, electricity prices for communities will come down, very significantly.”
The pledges made independently by key tech companies this year and the one signed Wednesday echo many of the promises and initiatives some tech companies have already been working on. In blog entry published by Google, in which it highlights its commitment to this commitment, the company lists several ongoing initiatives, including investments in nuclear and geothermal energy, as well as a contract framework with energy companies, and commits to invest in job creation.