AI Data Centers Could Raise Seattle Power Costs
- Proposed AI-focused data centers in Washington could increase electricity demand, potentially raising local utility rates. - Analysts warn peak demand spikes during AI workloads could strain Seattle City Light capacity and infrastructure. - If demand rises, customers might face higher rates and calls for new generation or grid upgrades (patch.com).
Seattle’s cheap hydropower is drawing proposed artificial-intelligence data centers that could push electricity bills higher for Seattle City Light customers. (axios.com) Four companies initially approached Seattle City Light about five large facilities with a combined peak demand of about 369 megawatts, or roughly one-third of the city’s average daily power use. One company later dropped out, leaving three companies pursuing four projects. (kiro7.com) Seattle City Light executive Andy Strong said the remaining developers are Prologis, Equinix and Sabey, and the projects are still in a “cluster study,” an early engineering review of how the utility could serve them and what new infrastructure might cost. The proposed sites are in the southern part of City Light’s service territory. (kiro7.com) A data center is a warehouse full of servers, and artificial-intelligence computing drives those machines hard for long stretches. City Light said in its 2024 planning report that average and peak loads are already rising, with 30-year record highs set in December 2022 and January 2024. (powerlines.seattle.gov) That matters because utilities have to build for the busiest hours, not the average day. City Light’s 2024 Integrated Resource Plan progress report projected a 580-megawatt increase in peak needs by 2040 versus its earlier forecast, alongside 238 average megawatts of added energy needs. (powerlines.seattle.gov) Seattle customers are already on a scheduled rate path before any new data-center load is approved. A City Light ordinance set average retail rate increases of 5.4% on Jan. 1, 2025, and 5.4% on Jan. 1, 2026, with residential increases of 4.3% in 2025 and 4.9% in 2026. (clerk.seattle.gov) Mayor Katie Wilson said on April 18 that Seattle has “not authorized nor permitted any new data centers” and that her office is exploring policy options, including a moratorium on siting new centers. She said she shares concerns about environmental justice and “increased costs for Seattle rate payers.” (wilson.seattle.gov) Opposition has grown quickly. FOX 13 Seattle reported that activists and allied groups sent more than 54,000 letters to City Council and the mayor’s office after the proposals became public. (fox13seattle.com) City Light’s supply picture is also under pressure from weather. Washington’s Department of Ecology declared a statewide drought emergency on April 8, citing about half of the state’s usual snowpack, a problem for a utility system that depends heavily on hydropower. (ecology.wa.gov) The immediate fight is not over a permit already issued, but over whether Seattle wants to reserve scarce power and grid capacity for homes, transit, ports and building electrification instead of a new class of giant server campuses. (kiro7.com)
