WASHINGTON – President Trump is set to broaden his effort Thursday to make data centers absorb the electricity costs tied to their rapid growth, rather than allowing those expenses to land on household utility bills.
Trump will announce that major utility companies and 23 governors have signed onto his “Ratepayer Protection Pledge,” an initiative aimed at requiring data center developers to cover utility-related costs as new projects accelerate nationwide.
The White House created the pledge as a response to mounting criticism of data centers and their strain on local power systems.
The president is expected to appear at an afternoon event at the Environmental Protection Agency alongside Energy Secretary Chris Wright, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin and several governors who backed the original pledge.
Data center developers, major technology companies and electric cooperatives had already joined the pledge when the White House first unveiled it 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.
Trump has strongly supported data center expansion, particularly as demand grows for artificial intelligence infrastructure, but the building boom has triggered resistance in several states over concerns that electricity prices could climb.
A Gallup poll released in May found that seven in 10 Americans oppose the construction of artificial intelligence data centers in their own communities.
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.
