The Trump administration signaled limits to its support for rapid data center expansion, warning that new sites should not drive up consumer electricity bills.
Already, there has been backlash in key states served by PJM Interconnection.
A senior White House official told The Hill on Tuesday that the administration would "embrace data centers, but not at the price ... of raising costs for consumers," and said officials were working with major hyperscalers and data center operators to avoid shifting new power costs onto households.
The political stakes have risen as communities and ratepayers link data center growth to higher electric bills, a potential liability for Republicans in states with heavy development.
President Donald Trump recently wrote on Truth Social that data centers are central to the AI boom but that large technology companies "must 'pay their own way.'"
Earlier this month, the administration publicly aligned with a bipartisan group of governors to press PJM, the nation's largest regional grid operator, to change how new generation is paid for as large new electricity users connect to the system.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, both Democrats, and then-Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, appeared with administration officials to urge that data centers that do not self-provide power or agree to be cut off during grid emergencies bear a greater share of the cost of new supply than residential customers.
The Department of Energy framed the approach as part of a push for an emergency power auction and other temporary measures in the mid-Atlantic, including a call to allocate the cost of any newly procured generation to data center loads that have not self-procured capacity or agreed to be curtailable.
PJM has advanced its own approach that includes faster grid interconnections for projects tied to new, dedicated generation, a framework the grid operator has described as a voluntary "Bring Your Own New Generation" construct paired with an expedited interconnection track.
Technology companies are also adopting the administration's language as they try to reframe the facilities as better local partners.
Microsoft recently announced a "Community-First AI Infrastructure" initiative built around a five-point plan that includes a pledge on electricity costs, saying it will "pay our way" so its data centers do not increase local power prices.
OpenAI also rolled out a "Stargate Community" plan, committing to "paying our own way on energy" so its operations "don't increase your electricity prices," with site-specific plans that can include funding new dedicated power, storage, or other grid resources.
PJM's footprint covers all or parts of 13 states and Washington, D.C., and serves tens of millions of customers, putting the pricing fight at the center of a broad regional debate over who pays for electricity infrastructure as AI demand accelerates.
Jim Thomas ✉
Jim Thomas is a writer based in Indiana. He holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science, a law degree from U.I.C. Law School, and has practiced law for more than 20 years.
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