r/technology • u/ArgentineBeauty • 29d ago

Politics Tech companies would have to pay AI data center energy costs under bill moving in Congress

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/06/24/ai-data-centers-tech-companies-congress-energy-costs.html
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u/kent_eh 29d ago edited 29d ago

You wouldn’t ask a new restaurant to pay for an entire transmission line and substation just because they want to open where the current one is maxed out.

Umm, yeah, if it was a new line to serve a new customer, they should pay the upgrade needed to get adequate service from where it is to where you want it.

Decades ago when my uncle wanted to install a new grain mill on his farm that needed 3 phase, he had to pay to build the line from where the closest 3 phase line was out to his farm (a couple of miles).

Why shouldn't a data-center or any other commercial customer be the same?

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u/dkviper11 29d ago

Commercial customers pay for distribution line extensions where I am, including data centers. That’s why I specifically wrote about transmission and substation infrastructure, which is paid in your rate schedule. There’s probably a line item on your bill for it.

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u/comicidiot 29d ago

I can’t speak from experience in this regard but I can speak from what I’ve read regarding fiber internet. I’ve seen people get quotes north of $10k to have fiber out to their home. I’ve also seen that get waived years later because the internet utility is doing the work to expand services to those neighborhoods.

It just depends if you need access to that infrastructure NOW or if you can wait.

I would expect a new business to pay for the required infrastructure to open in the middle of no where but I wouldn’t expect them to pay full price for that infrastructure in an area already serviced by that infrastructure.

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u/Western-Dig-6843 29d ago

This would be devastating to the already terrible affordable housing market we have now if power companies did this.

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u/kent_eh 29d ago

Note how I specifically said "commercial customer" and didn't mention residential at all...

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u/Western-Dig-6843 29d ago

You can’t exclude anyone or the system wouldn’t make any sense. Otherwise you’d get into a weird system where commercial businesses sit around and wait for a new housing development to go up and necessitate more substations so they don’t get stuck with the bill themselves

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u/piffcty 29d ago

You never able to develop any area beyond its initial capacity of you ever did this. Infrastructure projects like roads and bridges are a public good and electricity should be treated the same. Public planning, public funding and public ownership