All these data centers are gonna fry my electric bill … right?

The rapid expansion of data centers driven by AI creates a high-stakes forecasting challenge for utility companies and regulators, who must bet on future electricity demand. If utilities overbuild infrastructure, residents face higher bills to cover idle capital costs, though regulators in states like Ohio are mitigating this by requiring data centers to pay for 85% of projected usage. Conversely, underbuilding leads to reliance on expensive, inefficient legacy plants, also driving up consumer costs. A "Goldilocks" scenario exists where economies of scale from new, efficient plants lower rates, but achieving this is difficult due to misaligned incentives. Ari Pesco, Director of the Electricity Law Initiative at Harvard, notes that utilities often offer "sweetheart deals" to attract data centers, shifting the financial burden to residents. Because utilities hold a monopoly on information and resources, regulatory safeguards often struggle to protect the public from subsidizing these massive energy consumers.