Battle Against Data Centers Driving Up Electric Bills Unites Republicans, Democrats

These days, there isn’t much that unites Republicans and Democrats, conservatives and liberals. Both sides have such fundamentally different worldviews, and it feels like each group is living in two alternate countries. The reaction to President Donald Trump’s victory in 2024 and the culture battles that have raged for years have made the division even worse.

The one thing that might still unite Americans is their shared skepticism of D.C. politicians, who so often cater to lobbyists and special interests groups while turning their backs on the grassroots support that got them elected in the first place. However, there is another promising bipartisan issue that has emerged recently, thanks to America’s Artificial Intelligence boom. A common enemy — not a foreign country, or group of people — that could unite two sides that have never seemed more divided until now: massive, energy-sucking AI data centers. (Subscribe to MR. RIGHT, a free weekly newsletter about modern masculinity)

Although there is debate as to whether AI is a boom or a bubble doomed to burst, Wall Street and investors are betting on the former. That means companies are dumping money into the construction of new AI data centers, which house the computer hardware that stores and processes huge swaths of data. Data centers have been around in America for a long time, and are absolutely essential, as they allow us to send emails or complete online banking transactions. They are like the pillars of the internet, without which none of our online activity would be possible.

However, with the high demand for data centers comes a rippling effect of unintended consequences that affect communities where they are built.

Energy

The AI data center debate has yet to reach the federal level. But at the state level, it has cropped up time and time again, as data centers spring up around the country, particularly in the mid-Atlantic and Southeast areas. And one of the biggest flashpoints in these debates is the amount of energy it takes to power a data center, and how that burden will strain regional infrastructure and force utility companies to transfer costs down to consumers.

In Virginia, South Carolina, and Georgia, the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis revealed that data centers significantly drive load growth for utilities, accounting for 65% to over 85% of projected increases. Consequently, major utilities in these states, along with North Carolina, plan to collectively expand their electrical load by 32,600 MW over the next 15 years.

A separate report from consulting giant McKinsey found that global energy demand from data centers is expected to increase by 19 to 22% each year until 2030. The surge is likely to culminate in an annual energy demand ranging from 171 to 219 gigawatts. At the time of McKinsey’s analysis in October 2024, demand stood at 60 gigawatts per year, which suggests a looming supply shortfall. To meet the growing demand without encountering deficits, the report found that far more data centers would need to be built at an even faster rate than in the past two and a half decades.

Ultimately, someone has to foot the bill for skyrocketing energy consumption. And that person won’t be Big Tech; it will be the average consumer.

Mayor of Davis Al Tomson (L) sits surrounded by members of the local community in Canaan Valley on June 30, 2025, before a public meeting organised by the West Virginia Departement of Environmental Protection regarding the air quality permit application for a gas-fired power plant near Davis, West Virginia. Tomson, a former military man, is fighting against construction of a mysterious project on the outskirts of Davis, designed to power a vast data center. This fight in the woods of rural West Virginia is the latest example of the war between the US tech sector — and its rapidly rising need for energy to power the AI boom — and the communities it affects. (Photo by ULYSSE BELLIER/AFP via Getty Images)

PJM Interconnection, the biggest regional power grid operator in the U.S., projected in July that monthly electric bills in their territory could shoot up 5% in 2026, Business Insider reported. PJM covers 67 million customers and its territory includes Delaware, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and Washington, D.C.

PJM identified that data centers were the primary driver of demand in its territory, causing the spike in wholesale electricity prices, according to Business Insider.

“We are witnessing a massive transfer of wealth from residential utility customers to large corporations—data centers and large utilities and their corporate parents, which profit from building additional energy infrastructure,” Maryland People’s Counsel David Lapp told the outlet. “Utility regulation is failing to protect residential customers, contributing to an energy affordability crisis.”

Land

Data centers not only require large amounts of energy; they require big parcels of land. And not every local is happy about it.

In Indiana, for example, residents successfully opposed Google’s project to establish a vast data center campus on over 450 acres in the suburbs of Indianapolis. During a public meeting in September, when a lawyer representing Google announced that the tech behemoth was withdrawing its proposal, the news reportedly sparked applause from locals who had been protesting the development.

Merrifield Garden Center, a popular family-owned nursery in Prince William County, Maryland, sold its 38-acre property Oct. 16 to a data center developer for an eye-popping $160 million. However, local officials fear that more data centers in the region, which includes the notorious Data Center Alley in Northern Virginia, will put pressure on local businesses as energy costs increase. 

“To have a garden center, where the business model is about plants and making sure people have greenery in their yards, go south so another data center can come in and contribute to rising energy bills and massive energy consumption is beyond parody,” Maryland State Sen. Danica Roem said. 

A developer recently scrapped plans to build a data center on a massive tract of land outside Charlotte, North Carolina, that was previously owned by NASCAR legend and outdoors enthusiast Dale Earnhardt. Some 200 residents of Mooresville had voiced their objections to a rezoning request for the site, and launched a website, NoDataCenterMooresvilleNC.com, to organize their protest against “The Concrete Monster.” Kerry Earnhardt, one of Dale’s sons, also staunchly opposed the project.

“My Dad would be livid,” Kerry posted on Facebook in July. “Frankly, I’m ashamed our family name is involved in the request to rezone a community that is thriving as a Rural Residential/Agriculture zone to be changed to Industrial.”

“Infrastructures like this don’t belong in neighborhoods where people’s natural resources will be depleted, wildlife will be uprooted, and the landscape and lives of the people that call this area home with forever be changed,” he wrote. “I’d rather see homes built with people loving the land we live on … the way his area was intended to be!”

Bipartisan Politics  

At the state level, data centers backlash is already prompting officials to take legislative action.

In August, Democratic Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek signed a slate of bipartisan bills in an attempt to lower energy costs and “increase accountability” for major users, such as data centers or crypto mining operations. House Bill 3546 will “se[t] up a special rate category so these large users cover their own costs, instead of shifting them onto households and small businesses.” House Bill 3179 “limit[s] how often utilities can raise rates and keep[s] them from doing so during the high-demand winter months” and requires utility companies to alert and explain to customers when and why prices are increasing.

Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott recently signed Texas Senate Bill 6, which passed both chambers with bipartisan support. SB 6 focuses on large load customers, such as data centers, crypto mines and cloud storage facilities, mandating that they financially commit to infrastructure upgrades and enable remote disconnection during emergencies when the power grid is strained, also known as a “kill switch.” The law also requires that large consumers shoulder grid connection costs to ensure that they not are subsidized by residential rates.

STONE RIDGE, VIRGINIA – JULY 17: In an aerial view, an Amazon Web Services data center is shown situated near single-family homes on July 17, 2024 in Stone Ridge, Virginia. Northern Virginia is the largest data center market in the world, according to a report this year cited in published accounts, but is facing headwinds from availability of land and electric power. (Photo by Nathan Howard/Getty Images)

At an even more local level, two rival candidates for a seat on the Prince William County board of supervisors in Virginia are united in their opposition to data centers in the region.

“I think we should, personally, block all future data centers,” Patrick Harders, the Republican candidate, told Semafor. Harders’ Democratic opponent, George Stewart, agrees with him, saying that “the crushing and overwhelming weight of data centers” was a crisis, and that tech companies are “having us, as residents, pay for their energy.”

Just as there is bipartisan opposition to AI data centers, there is also bipartisan support. Center-left Democrats embracing the tech-friendly “Abundance” agenda would be in favor of more data centers. And, of course, the classic business-friendly Republicans believe that they are vital investments in their states.

Semafor’s report pointed to Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and his May veto of a data center regulatory bill. Youngkin said the legislation creates “unnecessary red tape,” and called data centers “immense opportunity for localities across the commonwealth.” Youngkin’s possible successor, Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, has also said during her campaign that data centers are “here to stay” in Virginia, and blamed soaring energy costs on Democratic policies.

If AI is the bet of the century, as we are so often told by Silicon Valley and Wall Street, then the backlash to data centers might soon peter out. Or, at the very least, it will remain a local and state issue. But if AI is the bubble of the century, these debates may burst up to the federal and national level. And, by the 2028 presidential election, both the Republican and Democratic candidates may stake out positions against AI that sound strikingly similar.

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