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AI data centers are driving the fastest electricity-price jump in a decade. Enter your bill and state to project where your costs are heading through 2030 — and see how much of it traces back to data centers.
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For most of the 2010s, U.S. electricity prices crept up slowly — roughly with inflation. That changed. Residential electricity prices rose about 6.9% in 2025, more than double the rate of general inflation, and forecasters expect above-inflation increases to continue through the end of the decade. The single biggest new force behind the surge is the explosion in electricity demand from AI data centers.
U.S. data center power demand is projected to nearly double between 2025 and 2028 — from roughly 80 gigawatts to 150 gigawatts — and data centers are expected to drive about 40% of all U.S. electricity demand growth over that period. When demand rises faster than new power plants and transmission lines can be built, wholesale prices climb, and utilities pass the cost of new infrastructure on to households.
You don't have to live next to a data center to pay for one. Most homes are part of a regional grid where electricity is bought through capacity markets. In the PJM grid — which covers Virginia, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Illinois and neighboring states — data-center-driven demand was cited as the primary reason capacity costs rose about 174% for the 2025–26 delivery year. Those costs flow straight through to residential bills across the whole region, not just the towns with server farms.
Exposure depends on how much data-center buildout is happening in your grid region. These are the highest-exposure states based on data-center concentration and capacity-market pressure:
| Exposure tier | States (examples) | What's happening |
|---|---|---|
| High | Virginia, Texas, Ohio, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Illinois, Georgia, Arizona, Oregon | Heavy data-center clusters and/or PJM capacity spikes; some areas projected up to 25–40% higher by 2030 |
| Medium | Most other states | Above-inflation increases from regional demand growth, grid upgrades, and fuel costs |
| Lower | States with little data-center load and ample supply | Slower increases, closer to the ~8% national baseline by 2030 |
Virginia is the clearest example — its "Data Center Alley" in the north is the largest concentration in the world, and roughly three-quarters of state voters blame the facilities for rising bills. Texas and nearby states are projected to drive about two-thirds of U.S. electricity sales growth in 2026 alone.
You can't slow down the data center boom, but you can shrink your exposure to it:
Figures in this tool are drawn from public reporting and data, including the U.S. Energy Information Administration, CNBC / Goldman Sachs analysis, Consumer Reports, the PolitiFact review of data-center cost claims, and Carnegie Mellon / NC State research on data-center bill impacts. Projections are scenario estimates, not forecasts.