Residential electricity costs are rising in parts of the U.S. as utilities race to meet soaring demand from data centers powering artificial intelligence and cloud computing. Clusters of new facilities, particularly in Northern Virginia and the Midwest, are prompting utilities to seek rate hikes to fund generation, transmission and substation upgrades. Consumer advocates warn that households risk subsidizing energy-hungry corporate users, while regulators weigh how to allocate costs and preserve reliability. Tech companies are signing long-term clean-power deals and exploring on-site generation, including small modular reactors, but most near-term needs will rely on grid expansions and conventional plants. The tug of war over who pays—and how fast the grid can scale—will shape power bills and investment decisions for years.
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Data Centers in Loudoun County, Virginia
