AI Data Centers Could Boost Seattle Power Bills

Seattle officials are weighing a moratorium on new data centers after utility staff warned the projects could push electricity costs onto other customers. (geekwire.com) Four companies approached Seattle City Light about five large facilities with a combined maximum demand of 369 megawatts, roughly one-third of the city’s average daily power use. One company has since dropped out, leaving three companies pursuing four projects. (kiro7.com) Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson said on April 18 that no new projects had been approved and that her office was exploring “a range of long-term policy approaches,” including a moratorium on siting new centers. She said she shared concerns about environmental justice, economic resilience and higher costs for Seattle ratepayers. (wilson.seattle.gov) A data center is a warehouse of servers, the computers that store files and run online services. Artificial intelligence systems use dense clusters of those servers, which can draw power around the clock and require new substations, transmission upgrades and backup equipment. (washingtonstatestandard.com) Seattle City Light’s concern is not only the size of the proposed load, but who pays to serve it. Utility officials have said large new customers can trigger infrastructure spending that, without special contracts or rate design, can spill into broader residential and commercial bills. (aol.com) That cost fight has already reached Olympia. House Bill 2515, introduced in the 2025-26 session as “Addressing emerging large energy use facilities,” sought to require special utility agreements for giant new loads, but the bill died in the Senate in March after passing the House. (app.leg.wa.gov) Backers of that bill said data centers are on track to become the Pacific Northwest’s biggest source of new electricity demand. They argued utilities need authority to charge those projects for grid upgrades, added energy costs and the risk that a project could cancel after the utility has already built to serve it. (washingtonstatestandard.com) The industry and its allies have pushed back, saying Washington already faces broader utility pressures and that data centers also bring construction jobs, tax revenue and demand for new power investment. A March legal analysis of the failed bill said lawmakers were trying to balance those economic benefits against ratepayer protection and grid reliability. (dwt.com) Seattle’s immediate question is narrower: whether a city utility built around hydropower and ordinary urban growth should add a handful of server farms that could redraw its load forecast in a single step. The answer now sits with City Light, the mayor and City Council, before any power bill changes show up on monthly statements. (fox13seattle.com)