Fighting Bill with Bill: Congressman Josh Riley pushes to keep data center costs off ratepayers
Data centers are rapidly rising across the U.S. and around the world. Storing, processing and transmitting vast amounts of digital information, powering them is no small feat. So who is paying for the infrastructure needed to support them?
In the first six months of 2025, utilities across the U.S. requested more than $29 billion in electricity rate increases — nearly double what they sought during the same period a year earlier.
Utilities say those increases helped pay for infrastructure upgrades and meet growing demand. And in some cases, those costs can ultimately fall on ratepayers.
Under existing utility rules, utility companies can pass costs on to residential and small-business customers instead of the companies driving the demand.
Here in New York’s 19th Congressional District, two more data centers are being considered for development.
In Lansing, Maryland-based TeraWulf is seeking to build a 300-to-400-megawatt AI data center at the former Cayuga Power Plant. In Oneonta, a com…