No Legal Force or Enforcement Mechanism
Aimed at Soothing Public Discontent Ahead of Midterm Elections
On the 24th (local time), U.S. President Donald Trump is delivering a State of the Union address at the U.S. Capitol. Photo by AP Yonhap News
U.S. President Donald Trump has demanded that major big tech companies make a public pledge to directly cover the electricity costs of artificial intelligence (AI) data centers. Although the pledge would not be legally binding and there is no legal basis to compel payment of the charges, the move is seen as an attempt to soothe public discontent over electricity bills ahead of the midterm elections in November.
On the 25th (local time), Bloomberg News, citing White House officials, reported, "President Trump plans to invite representatives of major big tech companies such as Amazon, Meta, Microsoft (MS), and Alphabet, Google’s parent company, to the White House on the 4th of next month for an event announcing a 'Pledge to Protect Consumers from Electricity Costs.'" The officials added, "This pledge will not be legally binding and there will be no means of enforcement, but it is expected to help alleviate consumer concerns that the expansion of data centers is leading to higher electricity bills."
This measure is interpreted as a response to voter dissatisfaction over recent electricity rate hikes ahead of the midterm elections in November. During the 2024 presidential election, President Trump pledged to cut electricity bills in half, but power rates have instead risen since then. In December last year, the average U.S. retail electricity price was 17.24 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh), up 6% from a year earlier.
In his State of the Union address at the Capitol the previous day, President Trump also framed the expansion of data centers as an opportunity to cut electricity bills and improve the power grid, stressing, "If large technology companies build their own power plants, local community electricity rates could be significantly reduced."
The main factor driving the burden of higher power bills is believed to be AI data centers being established across the United States. The data centers that big tech companies are competitively building consume massive amounts of electricity and water, leading to ongoing clashes with local communities in the U.S. According to a public opinion survey commissioned by the climate group Climate Power, 64% of voters cited the burden of public utility bills as their greatest concern regarding data center development.
However, there are concerns that a nonbinding public pledge that relies solely on corporate voluntary action will not be enough to curb rising electricity rates. Jessie Lee, senior adviser at Climate Power, told Bloomberg News, "Instead of empty promises, we need to move to secure additional power sources to meet surging electricity demand."
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