Across four major utility networks in 2025, commercial facilities contributed only $3.12 billion toward the $8.25 billion required for power grid upgrades, leaving the remaining $5.13 billion to local populations. Driven by AI computing needs, nationwide energy transmission investments escalated dramatically from $2 billion in 2020 to $34 billion in 2025. Although these developments impose heavy financial strains on residents, each gigawatt of added capacity creates roughly 15,000 jobs across the broader regional economy.
Key points
Data center electricity demand is projected to reach up to 17 percent of total U.S. power…: Data center electricity demand is projected to reach up to 17 percent of total U.S. power consumption by 2030.
State incentive returns fluctuate drastically between regions, generating $180 per dollar…: State incentive returns fluctuate drastically between regions, generating $180 per dollar in California compared to $2 in Virginia.
Low-income residents absorb disproportionate utility burdens, with added energy expenses…: Low-income residents absorb disproportionate utility burdens, with added energy expenses reaching 28 percent of their incomes.
Sources checked by our analysis pipeline: 1
By Caitlin Hayes, Cornell Chronicle
As the engines of artificial intelligence, large data centers can consume as much power as medium-sized cities, straining grids and prompting expensive upgrades to U.S. energy infrastructure. New research finds that residents, and especially lower-income and rural residents, are disproportionately bearing the costs.
In the study, published Nov. 9 in Nature Energy, Cornell researchers analyzed growth in energy demand and infrastructure projects for four major U.S. power grids from 2020 to 2025 and found that data centers have hiked wholesale energy prices and on average paid only 38% of the infrastructure costs linked to their growth – $3.12 billion of an $8.25 billion bill in 2025. The remaining $5.13 billion, or 62%, fell largely on residents, with the lowest income households seeing extra energy costs up to 28% of their incomes.
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