There’s a reason electricity prices have been rising. And it’s not data centers.

“The West, led by California, is in a really difficult situation,” said Devin Hartman, director of energy and environmental policy at the R Street Institute. “There’s really high costs to mitigating risks from those kinds of events…”

At the same time, more and more AI and data centers could still increase prices, if utilities are forced to build more infrastructure quickly. “These effects are only starting to be felt,” Hartman said. “The past is not necessarily prologue.”