WASHINGTON – President Trump on Thursday will expand his plan to hold data centers accountable for their use of electricity instead of passing on the costs to consumers.
The president will announce that key utility companies and 23 governors have signed his “Ratepayer Protection Pledge,” which demands that data center developers pay utility costs as construction spikes across the country.
The White House developed the pledge to counter criticism of the centers.
The president will be joined by Energy Secretary Chris Wright, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin, and several of the state governors who signed the original pledge at an afternoon event at the EPA.
Data center developers, Big Tech companies, and co-ops previously signed the pledge, which the White House announced in March.
“President Trump is expanding the Ratepayer Protection Pledge to governors, legislators, developers, and power providers to ensure everyone involved in building and powering data centers covers their own costs instead of passing them on to American families,” White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said in a statement.
The president is a proponent of the centers, but many states are seeing a backlash against their construction amid fears of rising electricity prices.
Seven in 10 Americans oppose constructing data centers for artificial intelligence in their local area, a Gallup poll found in May.
Data centers use about 4.4% of US electricity and are projected to utilize up to 12% by 2030. There are concerns over whether America’s aging power grid can handle the increasing demand. And some consumers have already seen their energy bills increase.
Big Tech companies and utilities signing the Ratepayer Protection Pledge account for about 80% of power used in the US at both businesses and homes, the White House said.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) caused outrage last month when she signed an executive order banning the construction of large data centers for up to a year.
Trump and many Republicans think Chinese influence operations are fueling the backlash. There is concern that foreign governments seek to hamper the US in the AI race to harm the country’s economic competitiveness.
Executives in the private sector are concerned that consumer outrage against the centers could see them relocated abroad.
Several big name companies have already signed the president’s pledge, including Google, Microsoft, Meta, Oracle, xAI, OpenAI and Amazon.
The pledge is nonbinding and, thus far, only Republican governors have signed it.
Hochul’s order made New York the first state to halt data center construction. She said it will give the state time to create regulations that can help the environment and energy grid.
It also means the centers won’t be built until after the gubernatorial race this fall, in which she’s running for re-election.
But business leaders warned the Democratic governor that she risks leaving New York behind, arguing the centers will simply move to other states to be built, jeopardizing job opportunities for New Yorkers.
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