President Donald Trump has expanded a voluntary pledge to protect U.S. consumers from higher utility bills from data centers. The pledge, which was first announced in March, has been joined by nearly 200 additional stakeholders, including utilities, data center developers, and governors.

Background

The expansion of the pledge comes as the artificial intelligence build-out has become a lightning rod of controversy before the midterm elections. The increased electricity demand from data centers could cause monthly utility bills to rise by 15% to 40% by 2030, according to a recent analysis by ICF, a consulting and technology services company.

Opposition to data centers has spiraled into a bipartisan issue, with voters worried about the environmental impact, use of AI in schools, and the prospect of data centers making their communities more expensive and less livable. Data center companies say their facilities help to generate tax revenues for school districts and reduce property tax burdens for homeowners.

State-Level Response

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, has signed an order to ban construction of large server warehouses in her state for a year. In May, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, signed a law that he said would prevent utilities from passing along energy costs from data centers to residential and small-business customers.

In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, has signed Trump’s nonbinding pledge, while Democratic nominee for Texas governor, Gina Hinojosa, has been using the issue to challenge Abbott before the November election.

Original reporting: KTBS 3 (Shreveport) — read the source article.