US utilities spend big on rising data center demand, but affordability concerns loom

The largest US electric utilities are ramping up spending on new power infrastructure to meet surging demand from data centers, with companies like American Electric Power and Exelon unveiling expanded investment plans on Thursday and fielding questions about rising power bills.

Utilities are adding power lines and other components to the grid as data centers — needed for Big Tech’s expansion of artificial intelligence technologies driving that growth — lift US electricity consumption out of two decades of flat demand. That demand has led to ‌rising electricity prices for ⁠a ⁠large swath of the country and prompted fierce competition between power companies to capture the long-awaited growth.