President Donald Trump hosted technology companies at the White House Wednesday as he urged them to sign his pledge that they will cover high electricity prices necessary for their businesses.
"They need some PR help because people think that if a data center goes in there, electricity prices are going to go up," Trump said. "It’s not going to happen."
Trump first announced the "ratepayer protection pledge" during his State of the Union address last week.
The proliferation of data centers has led to concerns about rising electricity prices. Electricity prices have climbed 6.3% during the past year, according to the Labor Department’s Consumer Price Index.
The companies committing to the pledge included Google, Microsoft, Meta, Oracle, xAI, OpenAI, and Amazon.
Under the terms of the nonbinding pledge, the companies agree to build or buy new sources of power generation for their data centers and cover the expense of infrastructure upgrades.
The companies could also sell excess power generation to utilities for public consumption, in addition to negotiating separate rate structures with public utilities and states, ensuring expenses are not passed on to consumers.
The pledge also commits tech companies to making backup generation available to prevent blackouts in times of emergency and to hire locally for their data center build-out.
"President Trump's ratepayer protection pledge will deliver more affordable, reliable, and secure energy for the American people and help stop the rising electricity prices that started during the previous administration," Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in a statement.
Google, Microsoft, Meta, Oracle, xAI, OpenAI, and Amazon will sign the pledge, a White House official said.
While Trump said the pledge would force tech companies to produce their own electricity, the deal is likely not enforceable at the federal level.
Electricity supplies are mostly regulated at the state level and managed across regions, using market structures that vary across the country.
The pledge was criticized by Evergreen Action, an environmental group.
"Now that energy prices have skyrocketed due to his corporate polluter-first policies, Trump is trying to cover up his mistakes with a photo op," Lena Moffitt, executive director of Evergreen Action, said.
Edison Electric Institute, a lobbying group for the power industry, praised the deal, saying it would see data centers pay their fair share.
"We appreciate President Trump’s focus on ensuring that our nation can drive innovation while also protecting Americans who need affordable, reliable energy," said Drew Maloney, the group’s president and CEO.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
Sam Barron ✉
Sam Barron has almost two decades of experience covering a wide range of topics including politics, crime and business.
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