With
cropping up around the United States, the cost of the energy infrastructure on which they rely, and who pays for it, are among the country's most debated economic and political questions.
asserted
who → With → questions
A new study has uncovered some answers: It found that, in 2025, the rising energy costs associated with landed hardest on lower-income, rural households, which bore disporportionate shares of the financial burdens compared with the data centers themselves.
asserted
which → uncover → centers
Authored by Cornell University researchers and published this week in the journal Nature Energy, the study analyzed growth in both energy demand and infrastructure projects along four major U.S. power grids between 2020 and 2025.
asserted
study → author → 2020
It also looked at data from 4,000 existing and proposed data centers spread across the nation.
asserted
It → look → nation
Its results showed that the AI boom, and relative profileration of the data centers used to support it, hike up energy costs in ways that place the greatest economic strain on people who benefit least from the technology.
asserted
who → show → technology
The study found that data centers unevenly raised wholesale power prices.
asserted
centers → find → prices
Those costs are determined through an open markeplace where electricity is bought and sold in bulk between power generators and utilities, before reaching transmission lines, and, eventually consumers.
asserted
electricity → determine → lines
Power grids that were already stretched saw the greatest price increases, researchers said.
asserted
researchers → stretch → increases
In the California's Southern Bay Area, data centers were estimated to raise wholesale energy prices by almost 20% last year.
asserted
centers → estimate → %
In Texas' Dallas-Fort Worth, the increase in 2025 approached 17%, according to their estimates.
uncertain
increase → approach → estimates
Both regions have seen influxes of data centers in recent years.
asserted
regions → see → years
Places like New York, where data centers are less prevalent, didn't experience significant changes in wholesale energy prices, according to the study.
uncertain
centers → experience → study
Higher wholesale prices had a downstream effect on energy consumers, the researchers said, as residential customers paid huge fractions of the spending on transmission built for data centers.
asserted
customers → have → centers
The study found that spending across the four power grids jumped from $2 billion in 2020 to $34.2 billion in 2025, with data centers responsible for $8.25 billion of energy infrastructure costs last year.
asserted
centers → find → costs
Residential users were responsible for just under $3.5 billion, but they were billed more than $16 billion while data centers were billed about $3 billion.
asserted
centers → bill → billion
Researchers said that antiquated formulas used to allocate energy costs along a power grid have historically divided those costs based on previous energy consumption, rather than new growth.
asserted
formulas → say → growth
That means households take on much of the costs for developing new power infrastructure.
asserted
households → mean → infrastructure
"It's kind of a chicken-and-egg problem," said Fengqi You, one of the study's authors, in a statement.
asserted
You → say → statement
"Because if you're going to build a data center, you need to expand this power infrastructure.
asserted
you → go → infrastructure
Otherwise, there's no electricity for them to run.
asserted
them → be → ?
But before they build, they're not using energy."
asserted
they → build → energy
Residents of rural and lower-income areas saw their bills skyrocket, and in some cases faced increases in energy costs that were 76% larger than residents of urban communities, according to the study.
uncertain
that → see → study
The researchers said that despite the concentration of data centers near metropolitan hubs, the financial loads they trigger often seep into surrounding suburban and rural areas because of policies that govern how energy costs are shared across regions.
asserted
costs → say → regions
They argued that such policies warrant review.
asserted
policies → argue → review
Researchers also pointed to what they called a "paradoxical mismatch" in states that saw the greatest increases in energy prices linked to data centers, and those that reported using AI technology.
asserted
that → point → technology
According to the study, states that faced the largest cost increases, like West Virginia and Ohio, also reported the lowest uses of generative AI compared with other states around the country.
uncertain
that → accord → country
The study also found instances where states saw price increases linked to AI data centers located geographically far from them, essentially paying for infrastructure "they neither contribute to nor benefit from," researchers said.
asserted
researchers → find → infrastructure
Residents in New Jersey and Pennsylvania helped pay for power grid updates tied to data center growth in Virginia, for example.
asserted
Residents → help → example
"You do not have to live next to a data center to help pay for its power infrastructure," You said in a statement.
asserted
You → have → statement
"The grid connects communities across states, and cost-sharing rules connect them financially.
asserted
rules → connect → them
Researchers suggested that data centers cut back on their energy use during their region's peak demand hours or pay states directly for the new energy demand they add to a given power grid.
uncertain
they → suggest → grid
Since regulating data centers was a huge focus of November's
, You said his team hoped their findings could help lawmakers decide what to do next.
uncertain
lawmakers → regulate → what
"This is an issue that connects directly to debates in many states and in Congress," said You.
asserted
You → connect → Congress
"We want to provide science-based evidence and concrete data so that all the stakeholders can better understand the picture and weigh their options."
asserted
stakeholders → want → options
The Aporia
