Trump Adds 200-Plus Signers to AI Power-Cost Pledge as Ratepayer Backlash Grows
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Jul 23
Trump Adds 200-Plus Signers to AI Power-Cost Pledge as Ratepayer Backlash Grows
3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Jul 23
Summary
More than 200 companies and politicians have now signed Trump’s voluntary “ratepayer protection pledge,” which says A.I. firms should bear more of the electricity costs tied to new data centers.
New signatories announced Thursday include utilities NextEra Energy, Southern Company and Duke Energy, data center developers Equinix and Digital Realty, and 23 Republican governors.
Trump first rolled out the initiative in February, and the White House secured commitments in March from Amazon, Google and Microsoft to pay a larger share of grid and infrastructure costs.
The pledge is largely symbolic and may be hard to enforce because electricity rates are often set by state regulators, but it highlights voter anxiety over rising power bills ahead of the midterm elections.