Household electricity bills rise as AI data‑centre expansion pushes up local rates

Maine Gov. Janet Mills vetoed a bill on April 24 that would have paused new data centers statewide, as Georgia customers and regulators wrestle with rising power bills tied to fast-growing demand. (maine.gov) (apnews.com) Mills said L.D. 307 needed more work because it did not exempt a proposed project in Jay, Maine, a former mill town where supporters say a data center could bring jobs and investment. (maine.gov) (nytimes.com) The veto landed the same week CBS News highlighted Georgia households whose electric bills have surged, with consumer advocate Patty Durand saying the average Georgia Power bill rose from about $150 a month to $225 in three years. CBS said Georgia Power imposed six rate hikes over that stretch. (cbsnews.com) Data centers are giant warehouse-sized computer buildings that run cloud services and artificial intelligence systems, and they use enormous amounts of electricity around the clock. Utilities often must add power plants, substations and transmission lines to serve them. (brookings.edu) Brookings said residential bills can rise for two basic reasons: utilities build new generation for data centers, and they also build new wires and substations to connect them. Those costs can then be spread across other customers through utility rate design and special contracts. (brookings.edu) In Georgia, regulators have already tried to stop that cost shifting. The Georgia Public Service Commission approved a rule on January 23, 2025, letting Georgia Power charge new data centers in a way the commission said would protect other customers from footing the bill. (psc.ga.gov) The Georgia commission also says Georgia Power’s base rates are frozen through at least the end of 2028, and the utility says that freeze followed its 2025 integrated resource plan. The commission’s website says residents should see “NO increases” on their bills due to data centers. (psc.ga.gov) (georgiapower.com) Georgia Power has publicly denied that data-center growth is being dumped onto households. Aaron Mitchell, the company’s senior vice president for strategic growth, told CBS there is “no risk” residential customers will pay those large-growth costs. (cbsnews.com) Researchers and analysts say the pressure is broader than one state. Brookings wrote in March that the United States faces a projected 49-gigawatt generation shortfall through 2028, while CBS cited Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis findings that new data centers are pushing up bills in at least 13 states. (brookings.edu) (cbsnews.com) Bloomberg reported in September 2025 that wholesale electricity near major U.S. data hubs was as much as 267% more expensive than five years earlier. That does not map one-for-one to a household bill, but it shows how fast local power markets can tighten around data-center clusters. (bloomberg.com) The fight now is less about whether data centers need power than about who pays for the extra grid built around them. Maine’s veto and Georgia’s rate debate show that question has moved from utility filings into kitchen-table bills. (maine.gov) (cbsnews.com)