AI Might Make Your Power Bill Go Up - Even If You Don't Use It

AI is everywhere. It's in your smartphone, on your computer, and even showing up on platforms like YouTube. And while AI can be helpful at times, it also has a not-so-hidden cost behind it: electricity usage. The amount of energy required to run AI data centers has grown rapidly, leading some companies like Google to invest in nuclear energy. But not every company is to that point yet, and as AI usage increases, some states are seeing their electricity bills rise, even if they don't use AI.

According to a new report from Bloomberg, the growing demand for AI data centers is adding more stress to the electrical grid in the United States. In fact, several states have already seen the amount of money that consumers are having to pay each month for their electric bills rise, and it's all to offset the increasing demand for energy from AI.

Bloomberg's report shows that across multiple states, many saw higher-than-usual increases in the annual cost of their electricity bills. New Jersey residents saw a 13.3% increase, while New York's increase was even higher at 14.4%, and that was just through May.

One reason that energy is becoming such an important commodity for tech companies is because of how much it requires to run an AI model like those behind Gemini or ChatGPT. This is just the start, though, as Bloomberg notes that the more up-to-date numbers show further increases are likely coming for these states, as the overall capacity prices have jumped since the numbers were last reported in May.

With the lack of regulation surrounding AI at the moment — especially as we lean more into Trump's AI Action Plan for America — these numbers are likely going to skyrocket, too, especially as more parts of the nation find themselves dealing with increased power demand from AI data centers. Even worse, many of these data centers — and the energy demands they create — aren't being met with new power plants or more capacity. Instead, these companies are just signing contracts to work off existing capacity.

That isn't going to work in the long run, as supply will fade as demand grows stronger, leading to even more price hikes and potential supply concerns. We seriously need to supercharge the power grid, and Bloomberg says that one of the best ways to combat this is to force the companies behind these data centers to commit to longer-term purchase agreements to expand on the current power capacity. If we're going to meet this new demand for energy, we need better ways to provide it.