New analysis highlighted the astonishing economic cost of AI data centers’ power demands. A Bloomberg review of electricity prices at tens of thousands of locations across the US found some faced power costs as much as 267% higher than five years ago in areas close to data centers.
“Without mitigation, the data centers sucking up all the load is going to make things really expensive for the rest of Americans,” one major investor said. Demand from the power-hungry facilities looks unlikely to abate: According to The Information, OpenAI chief Sam Altman has floated eventually needing 250 gigawatts of electricity — equivalent to about a third of peak power consumption across the US.
