Trump Aims to Hold Tech Giants Accountable for Power Usage Costs

According to Cointelegraph, U.S. President Donald Trump has announced plans to ensure that major technology companies bear the costs of their power consumption, aiming to prevent increased electricity bills for American households. On Tuesday, Trump expressed his concerns on Truth Social, emphasizing that he does not want Americans to face higher electricity expenses due to data centers. He attributed the rising household electricity costs to the Democrats and pledged to collaborate with leading American tech firms to secure their commitment to the American public, with further announcements expected in the coming weeks. The average electricity price per kilowatt-hour in U.S. cities has surged by approximately 40% over the past five years, as reported by the St. Louis Fed. Trump highlighted that his administration has been working with Microsoft to implement significant changes starting this week, ensuring that Americans do not bear the financial burden of tech companies' power consumption through increased utility bills. He stated, "We are the 'hottest' country in the world, and number one in AI. Data centers are key to that boom, and keeping Americans free and secure, but the big technology companies who build them must 'pay their own way.'" Data center power demand is on the rise, with U.S. data centers accounting for 5.2% of the nation's total power usage in 2025, equivalent to 224 terawatt hours (TWh), marking a 21% increase from the previous year, according to Visual Capitalist. McKinsey & Company projects that by 2030, electricity consumption from U.S. data centers could exceed 600 TWh, representing 11.7% of the country's total power usage. Cooling systems account for 30% to 40% of total facility energy use, while servers and IT equipment consume approximately 40% to 60% of total facility power, as per Network Installers. The International Energy Agency notes that AI-focused data center electricity demand is growing at around 30% annually, compared to 9% for conventional server workloads. Bitcoin mining, another energy-intensive operation, relies on large data centers to process transactions. ESG expert Daniel Batten recently compared the national rise in U.S. utility bills between 2021 and 2024 to areas with high concentrations of Bitcoin mining, such as Texas, finding similar trends. Batten concluded that there is no evidence to support claims that Bitcoin mining increases consumer power bills. Additionally, Bitcoin mining offers environmental benefits, including alleviating bottlenecks for on-grid renewables, funding green energy research, and reducing methane emissions.