Overview

• Consumers in the PJM region and data-center-dense Southeast are seeing summer bills climb as much as 20% after utilities passed on higher capacity auction costs linked to AI demand.
• PJM’s annual capacity auction prices jumped 833% in 2024 and rose another 22% this year, with roughly three-quarters of the increase tied to existing or planned data centers.
• The Ohio Public Utilities Commission has ordered data center operators to fund grid upgrades through higher energy rates, contrasting with Virginia’s ongoing tax breaks for the facilities.
• Utilities in Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina have filed plans to add about 20,000 MW of new gas-fired capacity by 2040 to meet projected AI-driven load growth.
• Speculative “phantom” data center interconnection requests may inflate future demand forecasts by up to 255 TWh, complicating infrastructure planning and climate-goal trade-offs.