Artificial intelligence may be transforming business, but someone still has to pay for the electricity.
And increasingly, that question is becoming a national issue.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration now projects that electricity consumption will reach record levels in both 2026 and 2027, driven in large part by AI data centers, electrification and continued commercial and industrial growth.
The numbers are getting Washington’s attention.
Congress is expected to consider legislation aimed specifically at preventing the enormous infrastructure costs associated with new data centers from simply being passed along to other utility customers.
Why the sudden urgency?
Across portions of the United States, proposed large-load projects—primarily data centers—have requested more than 700 gigawatts of electricity, according to a recent Reuters review. That is more than ten times the estimated power currently consumed by U.S. data centers. Regulators are now questioning how much of that demand is real and how much is speculative “ghost demand.”
Meanwhile, businesses are already feeling the impact.
In PJM, the country’s largest power market, data-center-driven demand has contributed to sharply higher capacity costs. Some industrial customers have experienced dramatic increases in the capacity component of their electric bills, even when their own facilities did nothing differently.
What Does This Mean for Your Business?
The days of simply watching the commodity price of electricity are over.
A company can negotiate an attractive energy rate and still see its total utility spend rise because of capacity, transmission, demand charges, tariff changes and other utility pass-through costs.
That makes understanding the entire bill more important than ever.
At Sterling Utility Management, our focus is not simply buying electricity and natural gas. We help large energy consumers understand where their utility dollars are going, identify unnecessary costs, evaluate procurement risk and develop strategies to reduce total energy spend.
The AI revolution may be just beginning.
Unfortunately, the electric grid is sending out the invoice.
Before you pay it, make sure you understand it.