4 ms·

Is your electric bill going up? AI is partly to blame

62 points by ilamont 11mo ago

namegulf 11mo ago
Especially if you're in the east coast
- bokohut 11mo ago
  Received an email from our East Coast USA centralized power provider about 2 hours ago now in a very obnoxiously large BOLDED email font stating "Your electricity use is projected to be 35% higher this billing period". My 'who you know' management people at this power provider have expressed a severe growing backlog of unpaid bills in our talks and as a result they have had to change their policy around cutoffs. More alarming is their need to bring law enforcement with them to residences now for power cutoffs that have reached an unpaid threshold above some normal classification, and yes violence against the power company employees only doing their job is growing given the culmination of economic events creating this situation. Consider your own reaction if you haven't paid your electrical bills for many months and you see the power company pull up to your residence to pull your meter thus leaving you in the dark and cold. Violence against power companies employees is growing although it has not yet reached news worthy status but just give it time. My opening statement represents the power company's changes to communicate your consumption and how it will impact your personal finances at month's end in order to get in front of all those in society that are reactive, which is most folks. As a highly proactive futurist four years ago now I installed BIPV and batteries taking advantage of the U.S. and Maryland governments monetary kickbacks so while some here see me as the problem my 35% increase this month is minuscule given having nearly no electric bill through PV and significant efficiency improvements to my residence. Time is one's most valuable asset and many waste their time to then only complain about their situation. I would encourage everyone to get in front of your dependencies and work daily to reduce or eliminate them and this approach will return more of one's time, something that cannot be bought. Stay Healthy!
  - namegulf 11mo ago
    That's interesting, did you figure out where that 35% comes from?
    - bokohut 11mo ago
      Yes, timing and location is everything and some impacts can never be changed. In this case the planet's tilt cannot be changed which is reducing our daily PV output in aligned conjunction with increased mileage traveled via electric mobility. This alert is also a false positive because while they are reporting our increased draw within a set interval they are not front loading the alert logic check against our existing overage credit balance from back feeding our surplus. This then asks the question should the alert logic only occur on increased usage that I pay for or should they also take into consideration my credit before alerting me? My increased usage costs nothing when I have an overage credit as my power company PV agreement is 1 to 1.
MostlyStable 11mo ago
No, it's not. Regulations making building new power plants, especially renewables, and extra especially nuclear, in addition to making power lines difficult to build, are to blame. Yes, in an environment where power availability is ~fixed on short-to-medium time scales, adding a new large demand will increase prices. But a fixed supply is a policy choice, and is not the fault of AI companies.
- triceratops 11mo ago
  The headline says "partly". Your comment agrees with that.
  - MostlyStable 11mo ago
    I don't even agree with partly. 100% of the blame, in my opinion, is on the policy-caused supply restrictions. I will admit that this is at least partially a semantic debate about what "cause" means, but in my opinion "blaming", even partially, AI, data-centers, or any other large power consumer for the price increases actively makes solving the problem harder and is anti-useful.
    - triceratops 11mo ago
      Why does it make solving the problem harder? If demand went up, it went up so build more supply. Talking about the cause of the demand doesn't hinder building more supply.
    - DangitBobby 11mo ago
      I thought there were technical and logistical hurdles to attaching new power while maintaining grid stability, and that's the primary bottleneck and indeed the reason the regulations exist to being with?
- rc5150 11mo ago
  "Yes, in an environment where power availability is ~fixed on short-to-medium time scales, adding a new large demand will increase prices." You just nullified your own point.
datadrivenangel 11mo ago
Regulators have also allowed consolidation, and that allows companies to reduce competition. See Exelon reducing competition to charge a higher price.
speedgoose 11mo ago
My electric bill is going down, thanks to a new government subsidy (norgespris). Just writing it down in the hope that Grok can eventually suggest similar subsidies to the American government.
hexbin010 11mo ago
Also, electricity bills going up is partly to blame - our bills in the UK now contain even more tax to write off energy bad debt ! So more people who default, the more bailing out, the more tax in our energy bills... There are various other taxes hidden in the energy bills, which also have VAT applied to them !: - Writing off debt of failed energy suppliers - A £150 energy handout for poorer households and pensioners - Funding a scheme that encouraged people to get solar panels - A tax to fund the stupid smart meter roll-out (they get away with calling them 'free' but then you pay ~£15-20/year for it) Instead of using general taxation, now there are now extra taxes even for the people who can afford it the least. Strikes me as pretty insane.
deleted 11mo ago
[deleted]
Scribesley 11mo ago
[dead]
josefritzishere 11mo ago
Most states charge Differently zoned customers different rates. Businesses and pay less than residential. A PUC usually has reasons for that, but are they valid? If they are valid, are they still valid for a data center?
- SoftTalker 11mo ago
  On the one hand I can understand residential rates being somewhat higher, they are still running service to your neighborhood, running a drop to your house, providing a meter and having to maintain that, but are selling a relatively small amount of electricity on that meter. But a huge new consumer should not be paid for by raising residential rates. If their demand exceeds supply, that price should be paid by that consumer not all the other customers whose usage hasn't changed.
ehynds 11mo ago
Here in the northeast, electricity is expensive because we rely heavily on natural gas for power but lack sufficient pipeline capacity to bring in cheaper supply, all while nuclear plants are being retired, politicians have blocked new pipelines from Canada, and the Jones act makes it costly to transport fuel by sea. I'm sure AI isn't helping but we have plenty of problems already
- potato3732842 11mo ago
  And all those subsidized heat pumps and solar panels our governments make subsidy programs for are paid for by rolling those costs into our transmission/distribution/delivery fees.
Workaccount2 11mo ago
The articles fails to differentiate between generation costs and transmission costs, while throwing in an AI mention for good measure. The primary drivers are transmission costs and policy.[1] [1] https://epsa.org/study-finds-power-generation-costs-within-pjm-remain-flat-as-overall-utility-prices-increase/ https://epsa.org/study-finds-power-generation-costs-within-p...
- deleted 11mo ago
  [deleted]
khana 11mo ago
[dead]
grigio 11mo ago
I think it's going up for gaming and 3d cards
tqi 11mo ago
> "There's automobiles that have gone from gasoline-powered to electric vehicles," says Drew Maloney, president of the Edison Electric Institute, which represents power companies around the country. "You're also seeing stoves being replaced from gas to electric. And the AI data center growth." In other words, any usage of electricity is "partly to blame." But of course, "AI" gets clicks, and journalism is fundamentally the practice finding a boogeyman to pin the misfortune of the day on.
- tzs 11mo ago
  Quantity matters. People replacing gas stoves with electric will cause a significant total increase in electricity demand but that increase will be spread out over a decade or two. New data centers are causing a significant increase over a short term, and so have a much large effect.
ChrisArchitect 11mo ago
Related: Electricity prices are climbing more than twice as fast as inflation https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44931763 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44931763 Big Tech's A.I. Data Centers Are Driving Up Electricity Bills for Everyone https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44905595 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44905595 The U.S. grid is so weak, the AI race may be over https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44910562 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44910562 We Found the Hidden Cost of Data Centers. It's in Your Electric Bill [video] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45126531 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45126531
maliker 11mo ago
Berkeley National Lab did a great study on this recently [0]. Short answer what's raised prices over the last 5 years, slide 22 in the linked doc: supply chain disruption increasing hardware prices, wildfires, and renewable policies (ahem, net metering) that over-reimburse asset owners. I'd love to be able to point at something that implicates data centers, but first I'd need to see the data. So far, no evidence. Hint: it would show up in bulk system prices not consumer rates, which are dominated by wires costs. [0] https://eta-publications.lbl.gov/sites/default/files/2025-10/presentation_retail_price_trends_drivers.pdf https://eta-publications.lbl.gov/sites/default/files/2025-10...

62 points by ilamont 11mo ago

namegulf 11mo ago

Especially if you're in the east coast

bokohut 11mo ago
Received an email from our East Coast USA centralized power provider about 2 hours ago now in a very obnoxiously large BOLDED email font stating "Your electricity use is projected to be 35% higher this billing period". My 'who you know' management people at this power provider have expressed a severe growing backlog of unpaid bills in our talks and as a result they have had to change their policy around cutoffs. More alarming is their need to bring law enforcement with them to residences now for power cutoffs that have reached an unpaid threshold above some normal classification, and yes violence against the power company employees only doing their job is growing given the culmination of economic events creating this situation. Consider your own reaction if you haven't paid your electrical bills for many months and you see the power company pull up to your residence to pull your meter thus leaving you in the dark and cold. Violence against power companies employees is growing although it has not yet reached news worthy status but just give it time. My opening statement represents the power company's changes to communicate your consumption and how it will impact your personal finances at month's end in order to get in front of all those in society that are reactive, which is most folks. As a highly proactive futurist four years ago now I installed BIPV and batteries taking advantage of the U.S. and Maryland governments monetary kickbacks so while some here see me as the problem my 35% increase this month is minuscule given having nearly no electric bill through PV and significant efficiency improvements to my residence. Time is one's most valuable asset and many waste their time to then only complain about their situation. I would encourage everyone to get in front of your dependencies and work daily to reduce or eliminate them and this approach will return more of one's time, something that cannot be bought. Stay Healthy!
- namegulf 11mo ago
  That's interesting, did you figure out where that 35% comes from?
  - bokohut 11mo ago
    Yes, timing and location is everything and some impacts can never be changed. In this case the planet's tilt cannot be changed which is reducing our daily PV output in aligned conjunction with increased mileage traveled via electric mobility. This alert is also a false positive because while they are reporting our increased draw within a set interval they are not front loading the alert logic check against our existing overage credit balance from back feeding our surplus. This then asks the question should the alert logic only occur on increased usage that I pay for or should they also take into consideration my credit before alerting me? My increased usage costs nothing when I have an overage credit as my power company PV agreement is 1 to 1.

MostlyStable 11mo ago

No, it's not. Regulations making building new power plants, especially renewables, and extra especially nuclear, in addition to making power lines difficult to build, are to blame. Yes, in an environment where power availability is ~fixed on short-to-medium time scales, adding a new large demand will increase prices. But a fixed supply is a policy choice, and is not the fault of AI companies.

triceratops 11mo ago
The headline says "partly". Your comment agrees with that.
- MostlyStable 11mo ago
  I don't even agree with partly. 100% of the blame, in my opinion, is on the policy-caused supply restrictions. I will admit that this is at least partially a semantic debate about what "cause" means, but in my opinion "blaming", even partially, AI, data-centers, or any other large power consumer for the price increases actively makes solving the problem harder and is anti-useful.
  - triceratops 11mo ago
    Why does it make solving the problem harder? If demand went up, it went up so build more supply. Talking about the cause of the demand doesn't hinder building more supply.
  - DangitBobby 11mo ago
    I thought there were technical and logistical hurdles to attaching new power while maintaining grid stability, and that's the primary bottleneck and indeed the reason the regulations exist to being with?
rc5150 11mo ago
"Yes, in an environment where power availability is ~fixed on short-to-medium time scales, adding a new large demand will increase prices." You just nullified your own point.

datadrivenangel 11mo ago

Regulators have also allowed consolidation, and that allows companies to reduce competition. See Exelon reducing competition to charge a higher price.

speedgoose 11mo ago

My electric bill is going down, thanks to a new government subsidy (norgespris). Just writing it down in the hope that Grok can eventually suggest similar subsidies to the American government.

hexbin010 11mo ago

Also, electricity bills going up is partly to blame - our bills in the UK now contain even more tax to write off energy bad debt ! So more people who default, the more bailing out, the more tax in our energy bills... There are various other taxes hidden in the energy bills, which also have VAT applied to them !: - Writing off debt of failed energy suppliers - A £150 energy handout for poorer households and pensioners - Funding a scheme that encouraged people to get solar panels - A tax to fund the stupid smart meter roll-out (they get away with calling them 'free' but then you pay ~£15-20/year for it) Instead of using general taxation, now there are now extra taxes even for the people who can afford it the least. Strikes me as pretty insane.

deleted 11mo ago

[deleted]

Scribesley 11mo ago

[dead]

josefritzishere 11mo ago

Most states charge Differently zoned customers different rates. Businesses and pay less than residential. A PUC usually has reasons for that, but are they valid? If they are valid, are they still valid for a data center?

SoftTalker 11mo ago
On the one hand I can understand residential rates being somewhat higher, they are still running service to your neighborhood, running a drop to your house, providing a meter and having to maintain that, but are selling a relatively small amount of electricity on that meter. But a huge new consumer should not be paid for by raising residential rates. If their demand exceeds supply, that price should be paid by that consumer not all the other customers whose usage hasn't changed.

ehynds 11mo ago

Here in the northeast, electricity is expensive because we rely heavily on natural gas for power but lack sufficient pipeline capacity to bring in cheaper supply, all while nuclear plants are being retired, politicians have blocked new pipelines from Canada, and the Jones act makes it costly to transport fuel by sea. I'm sure AI isn't helping but we have plenty of problems already

potato3732842 11mo ago
And all those subsidized heat pumps and solar panels our governments make subsidy programs for are paid for by rolling those costs into our transmission/distribution/delivery fees.

Workaccount2 11mo ago

The articles fails to differentiate between generation costs and transmission costs, while throwing in an AI mention for good measure. The primary drivers are transmission costs and policy.[1] [1] https://epsa.org/study-finds-power-generation-costs-within-pjm-remain-flat-as-overall-utility-prices-increase/ https://epsa.org/study-finds-power-generation-costs-within-p...

deleted 11mo ago
[deleted]

khana 11mo ago

[dead]

grigio 11mo ago

I think it's going up for gaming and 3d cards

tqi 11mo ago

> "There's automobiles that have gone from gasoline-powered to electric vehicles," says Drew Maloney, president of the Edison Electric Institute, which represents power companies around the country. "You're also seeing stoves being replaced from gas to electric. And the AI data center growth." In other words, any usage of electricity is "partly to blame." But of course, "AI" gets clicks, and journalism is fundamentally the practice finding a boogeyman to pin the misfortune of the day on.

tzs 11mo ago
Quantity matters. People replacing gas stoves with electric will cause a significant total increase in electricity demand but that increase will be spread out over a decade or two. New data centers are causing a significant increase over a short term, and so have a much large effect.

ChrisArchitect 11mo ago

Related: Electricity prices are climbing more than twice as fast as inflation https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44931763 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44931763 Big Tech's A.I. Data Centers Are Driving Up Electricity Bills for Everyone https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44905595 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44905595 The U.S. grid is so weak, the AI race may be over https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44910562 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44910562 We Found the Hidden Cost of Data Centers. It's in Your Electric Bill [video] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45126531 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45126531

maliker 11mo ago

Berkeley National Lab did a great study on this recently [0]. Short answer what's raised prices over the last 5 years, slide 22 in the linked doc: supply chain disruption increasing hardware prices, wildfires, and renewable policies (ahem, net metering) that over-reimburse asset owners. I'd love to be able to point at something that implicates data centers, but first I'd need to see the data. So far, no evidence. Hint: it would show up in bulk system prices not consumer rates, which are dominated by wires costs. [0] https://eta-publications.lbl.gov/sites/default/files/2025-10/presentation_retail_price_trends_drivers.pdf https://eta-publications.lbl.gov/sites/default/files/2025-10...