Republicans and federal regulators in lockstep with the White House on artificial intelligence agreed Wednesday that either Congress or the states should shield utility ratepayers and communities from the rising costs of the AI boom.
Members of Congress and the nation’s top electricity regulator spoke about the need to control costs at POLITICO’s Energy Summit on Wednesday. Rising electricity prices are contributing to a public backlash against data center development, and that’s now shaping end-of-session legislation in state capitals and national politics ahead of the midterm elections.
Public anxiety is “totally understandable,” said Pennsylvania’s Republican Sen. David McCormick.
“So, the question is, how are we going to guide our way through this,” McCormick said, “to make sure all the incredible breakthroughs in science and health care and productivity and work that can really, you know, lift humanity.”
