Overview
- Residents in Maryland and Washington, D.C., are seeing higher electricity charges tied to new data centers in northern Virginia, with BGE customers facing about $32 more per month in September and one Baltimore customer reporting a 20% rate jump despite lower usage, CNN reported via People.
- A U.S. Department of Energy report estimates data centers consumed about 4.4% of U.S. electricity in 2023 and could reach 6.7% to 12% by 2028.
- PJM Interconnection has proposed at least $11 billion in grid improvements since 2023 largely to serve data center growth, and a PJM meeting on Nov. 19 is set to address the surge in demand, according to local commentary.
- Virginia’s JLARC found data centers currently pay the costs assigned to them but warned their rapid load growth will likely raise systemwide fixed costs as utilities build new generation and transmission.
- Public pressure is rising to make data center operators fund on-site clean energy, a Baltimore Sun letter argued, while Microsoft says it pays for its consumption and its share of infrastructure and supports transparent cost allocation.