The initiative seeks to balance protections for ratepayers with the state’s push to attract DCs and other electricity-intensive industries to support economic growth. — Reuters
NEW YORK: New York plans to require data centre (DC) operators to shoulder more of the cost of powering their energy-hungry facilities, aiming to prevent surging electricity demand from pushing up household utility bills.
Under a new initiative Governor Kathy Hochul is unveiling, large power users that don’t deliver significant job growth or other benefits to the state would be required to either generate their own electricity or pay more for energy from the grid.
The initiative seeks to balance protections for ratepayers with the state’s push to attract DCs and other electricity-intensive industries to support economic growth.
It also includes steps to modernise and accelerate the process of connecting new facilities to the grid, currently a time-consuming bottleneck.
Electricity consumption is climbing across the United States, driven largely by DCs supporting artificial intelligence.
That trend has lifted utility bills and made power costs a growing component of the affordability squeeze.
“Massive DCs are driving up electricity demand faster than the grid can keep up, pushing costs onto working families and small businesses who can’t afford higher bills,” Hochul said in a statement.
“We must grow responsibly, ensuring affordability comes first and those profiting from data growth pay their fair share.”
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued guidelines last month that would prevent big DCs from taking over power from existing power plants without paying for investments needed to maintain grid reliability.
Details will be hashed out over the coming months. — Bloomberg
