Trump meets with tech giants to discuss energy pledges ahead of midterm elections
The U.S. president?Donald Trump will meet with leaders of technology companies on Wednesday, including 'Google, Meta and OpenAI. They are expected to formalize an agreement to protect consumers from the rising costs of electricity due to the rapid growth of data centers that use a lot of energy.
The White House announced that the "Ratepayer Protection Pledge" announced by Trump during his State of the Union Address would see tech companies commit to measures to ensure the boom of artificial intelligence infrastructure doesn't translate into higher utility bill for households and small business.
"President Trump's ratepayer pledge will provide more affordable, reliable and secure energy to the American people, and help stop rising electricity prices that started under the previous administration," said Energy Secretary Chris Wright in a press release.
A White House official confirmed that Google, Microsoft Meta, Oracle xAI and OpenAI will all sign the pledge.
Voters Worried About Energy Bills
Data centers are putting a strain on the power grids of the United States, and this is causing voters to be concerned about the cost of energy.
According to sources familiar with plans, the pledges will include an agreement by technology companies to?bring or buy electricity for their data centers from either new power plants, or existing plants that have increased output capacity.
Sources said that Big Tech is also expected to make commitments to upgrade power systems and enter into special electricity rates agreements with utilities.
Some of the largest names in tech are expected to attend the White House, including companies that have invested billions of dollars in new AI computing power that consumes vast amounts of energy.
Trump has encouraged these firms to build or secure a dedicated power capacity in order to meet the demand, rather than relying on regional grids. This is part of an effort to balance technical?competitiveness and political and economic concerns regarding energy costs.
The effort is not likely to result in new electricity supplies being built fast enough to relieve grid pressure, according Jon Gordon, director of Advanced Energy United, an energy trade group which includes data centers.
SOLAR AND WIND ENERGY? FASTER TO GET ONLINE
He said that this is partly due to Trump’s policy of increasing fossil fuels like natural gas and coal for data centers instead of faster-build sources such as solar and wind.
Gordon said: "The real issue is that we can't get the generation online fast enough to meet data center demand." "Hyperscalers who pay for the generation don't get it online any quicker."
Both supporters and critics will be closely watching to see if the pledge results in concrete commitments, or if it remains largely symbolic. This is because lawmakers and consumer groups are calling for stronger protections that prevent utility bills from increasing due to data center construction. (Reporting by Jarrett Renshaw, Laila Kearney and Sharon Singleton; Editing and production by Aurora Ellis and Sharon Singleton).
(source: Reuters)
