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On Tuesday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) launched a renewed push to examine whether the rapid expansion of AI data centers run by major technology companies is driving up electricity costs for American households.
Warren Raises Alarm Over AI Power Consumption
In a post on X, Warren said that “a single AI data center uses as much electricity as 100,000 households.”
She argued that utility companies are shifting infrastructure upgrade costs onto consumers instead of Big Tech firms.
“Utility companies are passing the upgrade costs to you, not to the trillion-dollar tech giants,” she wrote, adding, “These companies need to pay their costs.”
A single AI data center uses as much electricity as 100,000 households—and utility companies are passing the upgrade costs to you, not to the trillion-dollar tech giants.
I’ve opened an investigation. These companies need to pay their costs.
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) May 12, 2026
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Senate Probe Targets Big Tech Energy Footprint
In December 2025, Warren, along with Sens. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), opened an investigation into whether data center expansion is contributing to rising power bills.
The senators sent letters to Amazon.com, Inc., Meta Platforms, Inc., Alphabet Inc.’s Google, Microsoft Corp, CoreWeave, Digital Realty and Equinix seeking details on energy usage and cost allocation.
Lawmakers said AI development is accelerating electricity demand, with the Department of Energy projecting data centers could account for up to 12% of U.S. power consumption by 2028.
They also cited estimates that utilities may spend billions upgrading grids, including new power plants and transmission lines, costs that could be passed on to residential customers.
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Utilities and Tech Companies Clash Over Costs
The debate centers on whether infrastructure costs tied to AI growth are being fairly distributed.
Critics argue households are indirectly subsidizing Big Tech expansion, while companies say they pay their own energy costs and operate under regulated utility agreements.
An Amazon spokesperson previously said, “Amazon pays for its own electricity costs,” adding that independent research “failed to find evidence that residents are subsidizing our data centers.”
Data centers account for about 5% of U.S. electricity use, a share expected to rise as AI grows. McKinsey & Co. projects this could more than double in five years, with data centers driving up to 40% of new electricity demand by 2030.
Photo courtesy: bluestork/Shutterstock
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