A data center is a facility that houses computer systems used for storing, processing and distributing digital information. They use a tremendous amount of electricity–the largest facilities can consume as much energy as 100,000 households a year (a mid-sized city)! Across the United States, data center electricity use has more than doubled in the past 4 years, and it is expected to more than double again by 2030.
This unprecedented growth in energy demand is one of the biggest reasons residential electricity bills are soaring in Illinois. We’re paying the costs, but data center development is driven by some of the wealthiest corporations in the world, and this inequity will only get worse without meaningful reforms. One analysis estimates that unless we take action, in just a few years we could face rolling blackouts and average electric bill increases of up to $70 per month.
Large data centers can increase costs for all of us on different levels of the power system, from the local distribution wires, to high-voltage transmission lines, all the way up to big power plants. Each of these is overseen by different combinations of state, regional and federal entities, and policy changes are needed at every level to preserve affordability for Illinoisans.
Our current regulatory system may be ill-equipped to address the data center problem, but it doesn’t have to stay that way!
State-level solutions
Signed into law this January, the Clean and Reliability Grid Affordability (CRGA) Act will help Illinois address the supply-demand imbalance that helped spike power prices in 2025. But further legislative action, such as passing the POWER Act (Senate Bill 4016/House Bill 5513), will be needed in order to hold Big Tech accountable.
The POWER Act would require data centers to cover their costs to connect to the grid and bring enough clean power to the grid to cover their needs. Some of the Act’s key affordability provisions include:
- Requiring utilities to create new rules to protect their existing customers from subsidizing data center-related upgrades to the distribution and transmission infrastructure.
- Requiring data centers to bring their own new clean power if they want firm electric service that won’t be curtailed at times of high demand.
- Requiring data centers to pay into a fund providing utility bill assistance to consumers.
Send a message to Springfield in favor of the Illinois POWER Act.
Federal solutions
There are currently attempts to address the issue on Capitol Hill, too. CUB supports the federal Power for the People Act (S. 3682). This legislation is another piece of the puzzle to ensure that everyday customers are not forced to subsidize the costs of rapid data center expansion. Among other things, the Act would:
- Direct the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to establish rules to ensure that data centers are paying for the local transmission upgrades they are directly causing.
- Require states to consider data center-specific rate classes.
- Set rules that ensure utilities use better information when predicting future electricity needs.
Send a message to Washington in favor of the federal Power for the People Act.
Grid-level solutions
PJM Interconnection is the operator of the largest power grid in the U.S., coordinating the movement of electricity through 13 states including ComEd territory in Illinois. PJM recently proposed a data center policy–but questions remain about whether the proposal will actually protect the PJM region’s 67 million electric customers from soaring power bills. CUB’s Consumers for a Better Grid campaign advocates for consumers at the grid operator level. Please sign up here to get alerts about our work there. (Also, read our blog: How data centers are raising our bills in Illinois–and what we should do about it.)
