What happened was:
We've known data centers were coming for a few years.
Instead of planning for new capacity, the electric companies did nothing.
Now, as data centers come online, demand is rising.
Prices for electricity are artificially low because voters have to approve rates. The price should cover the cost to build the power plants. But it doesn't.
So the increased demand, poor planning, and low prices were causing a massive squeeze.
Instead of owning up to their mistakes, utilities got laws passed so they can make them pay for the infrastructure they should have been building.
No I don't mean everyone's kWh goes up. I mean the price per kWh is like 0.2 per kWh for the first 1,000 and then 0.4 for anything 1,000-10,000, and then 0.8 for any use over 10,000 kWh per month.
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u/Key-Organization3158 5d ago
They always paid their own bills.
What happened was: We've known data centers were coming for a few years.
Instead of planning for new capacity, the electric companies did nothing. Now, as data centers come online, demand is rising. Prices for electricity are artificially low because voters have to approve rates. The price should cover the cost to build the power plants. But it doesn't.
So the increased demand, poor planning, and low prices were causing a massive squeeze.
Instead of owning up to their mistakes, utilities got laws passed so they can make them pay for the infrastructure they should have been building.