Who pays for the electricity that AI eats? Three senators just published their answer: you do — and Big Tech likes it that way.
On October 9, Senators Elizabeth Warren, Chris Van Hollen, and Richard Blumenthal released a 27-page report, Power and Profits: How the AI Data Center Boom Costs Households and Communities, the product of a nearly yearlong investigation into AI data centers' impact on communities. The inquiry began with information requests sent December 15, 2025, to seven companies: Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, CoreWeave, Digital Realty, and Equinix.
The central finding is about cost allocation. The companies told investigators they pay their "full energy costs" and "full cost of service" — but those commitments apply to infrastructure that benefits them exclusively. When it comes to shared grid upgrades that would not have been needed without the data center, the companies broadly oppose the "but-for" standard that would require them to cover the full cost. Their position: those costs should be shared among all ratepayers. The senators' summary: companies pay for what serves only them and dispute the rest — leaving residential households to make up the difference.
The second finding is secrecy. All four Big Tech firms routinely demand nondisclosure agreements from utilities, landowners, and in some cases government officials. Meta told investigators that "maintaining confidentiality during project development increases efficiency" — a line the report uses to argue that local residents are kept out of stakeholder discussions by design.
The third strand is tax policy. The companies are pursuing sales-tax exemptions on chips and equipment worth billions, while providing minimal evidence of permanent job creation. None of the seven supplied comprehensive data on full-time jobs at their facilities, according to the senators' offices. The report concludes the industry is "bulldozing local communities" and "leaving ordinary citizens stuck with the bills."
Warren has separately called for a national moratorium on new AI data centers until developers can demonstrate the facilities will cover their full costs — including grid upgrades, water use, and other infrastructure impacts. The House recently passed bipartisan legislation aimed at keeping households and small businesses from being stuck with data-center infrastructure costs.
The companies will argue the grid needs investment anyway. The report's point is simpler: when a single AI data center can use as much power as 100,000 households, the bill for the wires should follow the demand.