- The White House plans a pledge involving utilities and data centre developers on AI power demand
- An event to announce the initiative will include companies pledging to protect ratepayers from costs
- Concerns exist about households subsidising grid upgrades for large tech companies' AI data centres
The White House plans to bring together utility companies and data centre developers for a voluntary pledge designed to ensure rapid growth in electricity demand from artificial intelligence does not drive up power bills for households and businesses, according to three people familiar with the plans.
An event to announce the initiative is expected in the coming weeks, with several companies taking part and vowing to protect current ratepayers from shouldering all the costs of AI expansion. The guest list is still being finalised, the sources said.
The White House did not respond to requests for comment.
Surging demand from power-hungry data centres has prompted regulators, consumer advocates and lawmakers in several states to warn that households could end up subsidising grid upgrades needed to serve some of the world's largest technology companies, raising questions over whether the pledge will deliver concrete commitments or remain largely symbolic.
As President Donald Trump's administration pushes to accelerate the expansion of AI infrastructure, it hopes to avoid a political backlash over rising electricity bills.
Earlier this year, Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, Oracle and xAI signed a voluntary "Ratepayer Protection Pledge" at a White House ceremony, committing to finance the electricity infrastructure needed for their AI projects rather than passing those costs on to existing utility customers.
The companies agreed to help pay for new power generation, grid upgrades and other costs tied to their data centres, including unused reserved capacity. The White House said the commitments were designed to prevent households from subsidising the growth of AI infrastructure.
The new event is expected to broaden those commitments by bringing together electric utilities, companies that build and operate data centres on behalf of Big Tech, and governors of states on the front lines of expanding the power infrastructure needed to accommodate the expected surge in electricity demand, the people familiar with the plans said.
The White House has argued that the United States can win the global AI race only by rapidly expanding electricity generation and transmission, while maintaining that consumers should not bear the financial burden of that buildout. Administration officials have cast the initiative as an effort to reassure voters that AI investment and lower energy costs can coexist.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
