As the AI and data center explosion threatens to overwhelm the grid, the Trump administration organized a commitment from the hyperscalers driving that demand:pay your own way, or don’t build here.
*TRUMP: TELLING BIG TECH THEY NEED TO PROVIDE THEIR OWN POWER*TRUMP: NEGOTIATED NEW RATE PAYER PLEDGE ON DATA CENTER ENERGY
On March 4, the White House rolled out theRatepayer Protection Pledge,signed by Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, Oracle, and xAI. The deal is simple and overdue: these companies must build, bring, or buy every new megawatt they need, and then some. No more socializing the costs onto ordinary ratepayers already hammered by years of green-mandate fallout.
The five core commitments are straightforward:
Full funding of new generation: Companies cover 100% of new power plants or purchases, with extra capacity added where possible to actually benefit the broader grid.
Infrastructure upgrades: All transmission and delivery upgrades required for their facilities get paid by them.
Take-or-pay rates: New, separate utility contracts mean they pay the full freight for the power and pipes whether they use every watt or not.
Local jobs and training: Hiring and skill programs in host communities.
Grid resilience backup: Backup generation available to utilities during shortages to prevent blackouts.
As we’ve long documented, fromthe growing revolt againstdata centers in political races, where affordability crushed every other issue, to our piece onDemocrats still blaming techwhile ignoring Biden-Harris green policies that sent Northeast bills soaring to national highs.
Source: ZeroHedge News
