US Launches 200-Signer Datacentre Power-Cost Pledge as 70% Oppose Nearby AI Facilities
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Aug 28
US Launches 200-Signer Datacentre Power-Cost Pledge as 70% Oppose Nearby AI Facilities
3 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Aug 28
Summary
Nearly 200 companies, utilities, datacentre developers and states joined the administration’s voluntary “Ratepayer Protection Pledge,” which says AI facilities should cover their own electricity use and grid-connection costs.
The initiative aims to blunt a politically potent backlash that datacentres are pushing up household utility bills; US utility prices were already 4% higher in June than a year earlier.
Critics say the pledge is largely symbolic because it is not legally binding and sets no clear penalties for companies that fail to follow through.
Opposition is widening across the political spectrum: more than a dozen states have weighed moratoria, New York enacted a temporary ban last month, and a May poll found 7 in 10 Americans oppose AI datacentres in their area.