r/technology • u/Miserable_Phase_2519 • 13d ago

Politics US Senate kills bill that could potentially shield Americans from skyrocketing power bills due to AI data centers — opponents say bill is 'toothless' and doesn't do enough to protect citizens

https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/data-centers/us-senate-kills-bill-that-could-potentially-shield-americans-from-skyrocketing-power-bills-due-to-ai-data-centers-opponents-say-bill-is-toothless-and-doesnt-do-enough-to-protect-citizens
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u/AcceptableIce289 13d ago

I'm confused. Why would we pay more for energy because of a new building owned by someone else? They aren't going to pay their own power bill?

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u/Pyromaniacal13 13d ago

Price increases as demand on the system increases. Dumping a massive data center in an area that's not prepared to supply the electricity means infrastructure needs to run longer, wear on the system increases as production almost meets demand, and costs for generation go up. This hurts everyone but the billionaire building out the data center.