Data centers are gobbling up electricity — but President Trump says families will see their energy bills drop under his administration’s new plan.
The massive, largely windowless buildings have sparked fears they’ll drain the electric grid. Trump’s Ratepayer Protection Pledge flips the script: the tech giants building these centers will pay for the infrastructure themselves, not American households.
“We are here today to continue the incredible progress we’re making in communities nationwide to ensure that as new data centers go up — and they’re going up all over — electricity bills for American families will actually come down,” Trump said at an event Thursday.
“ELECTRICITY BILLS FOR AMERICAN FAMILIES WILL ACTUALLY COME DOWN”
The pledge — first announced in March — requires companies building or operating data centers to pay for new electricity generation and grid upgrades themselves. They’ll also pay negotiated rates “whether they use the electricity or not,” and make backup power available to the grid during peak demand.
Trump summed it up Thursday: data centers “paying their own way.”
Amazon, xAI, Oracle, Microsoft, Meta, Google and OpenAI all signed the pledge when it launched. Now nearly 200 additional stakeholders have joined — including 23 Republican governors.
“President Trump is expanding the Ratepayer Protection Pledge to governors, legislators, developers, and power providers to ensure everyone involved in building and powering data centers covers their own costs instead of passing them on to American families,” White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers told The Center Square. “The President’s bold action is turning data centers into engines of growth for local communities, while cementing America’s dominance in the global AI race.”
The pledge now covers 80% of all power delivered to American homes and businesses, the administration says.
Much of the pledge formalizes practices hyperscale data center operators already pursue. Economist Ike Brannon called the March pledge “vague” and “aspirational” in an interview with The Center Square — though he coauthored a 2024 report on preventing rising ratepayer costs amid the data center boom.
“It seems clear that there’s no real way for the government to actually make any of these happen,” Brannon said. “Worthy aspirations, but that’s it.”
Some lawmakers are turning the pledge into law.
Reps. Gabe Evans, R-Colo., and Kathy Castor, D-Fla., introduced a bill in June that unanimously passed out of committee. It would establish a federal standard for recovering the full cost of grid upgrades serving large-load customers.
On Monday, Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., introduced the Protecting Ratepayers Act — codifying Trump’s pledge and requiring data centers to “independently source water and power, bypassing public infrastructure.”
The next move: bipartisan support for shielding families from the cost of America’s AI buildout.
