America's growing digital economy requires power grid updates. Who will foot the bill?

Earlier this year the president and leaders of many of the biggest technology companies agreed upon that principle through the Ratepayer Protection Pledge. Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, Oracle, and xAI committed to covering the costs of new power generation required for their data centers. In July, the White House announced an expansion bringing over 200 additional utilities, data center developers, cooperatives, and states into the effort. Congress must now work through the details of how public policy should give those commitments effect.

The United States must build enough power and infrastructure to meet its increasing needs. Faster development of generation, transmission, storage, and equipment can ease constraints that cost allocation alone cannot solve. Assigning responsibility for a grid upgrade still leaves the work of permitting it, obtaining equipment, and getting it built. Public policy should make that process more predictable while maintaining protections for communities and the environment.

Workable rules must be grounded in operational reality. A proposed campus faces decisions about utility service and local approvals long before its first server begins operating. Policymakers need to understand those dependencies. Utilities, regulators, developers, and computing companies each hold part of that knowledge, and their experience should inform the rules governing new projects. Communities should have opportunities to ask questions while choices about location and infrastructure can still change.