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u/enlightnight 1d ago
Not only should they pay for the energy itself, they should pay for the Infrastructure to handle the increased load on top of offsetting the environmental impact of the data centers (Likely impossible, but why not heap on the burden?)
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u/Visual-Scallion1535 22h ago
Thats exactly what the EO does, they were already paying for the energy itself
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u/LetsGetElevated 8h ago
That’s not entirely accurate, I just read the full text of the EO.
It says if they don’t invest in enough grid capacity to support themselves then they will be the first customers to be cut off during an insufficient power event. They don’t need to meet this requirement to connect to the grid, but they will pay in availability.
They also were not already paying for all of their energy use. Shapiro estimates that 46% of the energy charges in PJM backstop auctions can be attributed to data centers - resulting in over $29b of energy charges passed from data centers to consumers. The EO ends this practice in PA.
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u/martinsonsean1 1d ago
It's more metaphorical, Datacenters increase energy costs by increasing demand, the EO here would force new planned datacenters to more carefully prepare for their energy needs, I think.
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u/EnvironmentNeith2017 23h ago
I can’t prove it but I feel like getting tax payers to subsidize sports stadiums got us here
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u/DreadPrinceofBelEyre 22h ago
I know reddit is all about the quick takes and snark but if you really want an answer to this you can read this paper. Even when data centers promise to pay for their own energy, there are many ways costs can flow over and be reflected in the general rate base. https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/extracting-profits-from-the-public-how-utility-ratepayers-are-paying-for-big-techs-power/
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u/Belter-frog 23h ago
Cause under capitalism, corpos pit communities in a little thing we call a "race to the bottom" where, in the long term, everybody loses.
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u/someoneyouknow23 22h ago
This sub is so funny, 1 guy talks about capitalism, other lad talks about how this is socialism and an other guy talks about communism
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u/Belter-frog 22h ago
"socialism for the rich" is just a cheeky joke about how corporations regularly externalize what should be their own business costs by lobbying governments for tax breaks and bailouts and subsidies and get governments and communities and ngos and take care of workers they exploit and clean up their environmental messes.
It's not contradictory when you think about it. Everybody is talking about the same thing.
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u/Scary_Yellow_8719 21h ago
Pro-Israel, Pro-AI, ladies and gentleman your corporate dem 2028 frontrunner.
Why the fuck were Pennsylvanians paying for billion dollar corporations electricity, ever?
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u/Visual-Scallion1535 22h ago
They were already paying their own bills
This forces them to also pay for any infrastructure/capacity increases that become necessary due to the data center, instead of spreading that cost out to all customers
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u/JhonImbalance 23h ago
Shapiro kind of sucks so I could see him inventing a "victory" like this to make himself look better.
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u/beef-hed 23h ago
Shapiro is a phony. He’s in the tech bros’ back pockets. He’s just trying to save his ass in an election year. Unless they’re for a complete data center ban, I have no time for them.
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u/ds376b 22h ago
Anything short of a ban (which he is falling short of) is a half measure. Even Texas is banning
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u/__pursuit 22h ago
Texas isn't banning them , it's a halt on new grid interconnect requests. Which you don't need if you construct power on site. The most extreme example of this was Colossus 1 & 2.
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u/AlishaGray 22h ago
Considering his opponent is an unpopular MAGAt psycho i don't think he's too worried about losing
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u/beef-hed 22h ago
Typical election. A choice between puke and diarrhea. Yeah, MAGA Carrot Top is a complete loon.
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u/AsherTheFrost 22h ago
Our society is completely fucking backwards and the best way to get free shit is to already be rich. Same thing happens in every single industry, especially banking.
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u/Eazy12345678 21h ago
you always pay. taxes pay for tons of shit you dont want to spend your money on
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u/SalletFriend 21h ago
Its trying to signal that they will pay a bit more to cover any supply/demand curve changes caused by their usage. They already pay for their own power, the concern is they are driving the cost up for other users.
Its a very clickbaity/attention seeky way of putting this.
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u/Luc_ElectroRaven 20h ago
They do pay their bills. this is different. It makes them pay for infrastructure upgrades or pay for more electricity than they use or provide their own energy
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u/GameplayTeam12 20h ago
so if they pay for all, they will try to use all, and probably have priority....
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u/Robot-Zombie-RHCC 20h ago
not sure i got it right but i thought this meant the data center's spike in demand won't show up as a spike in the price of energy for residents. ive been meaning to follow up on this, tho.
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u/That_Car3506 19h ago
Work for a DC, a BS article. All DCs pay for their own power. Some of the stupid shit people post.
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u/GayMergirlLala 19h ago
I’m living this! Hoping we can get something like this in CA because electricity bills have definitely been increased due to data centers!
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u/NateBearArt 18h ago
hey were paying for the energy consumed but not offsetting the increased power bills neighbors were getting due to increased demand. My guess is they are forcing them to fully figure out where the power is gonna come from and pay to the increase capacity before construction.
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u/narrowminer11 18h ago
Inaccurate headline. Data centers cause a higher demand on the power grid, increasing overall costs. The new bill would force the data centers to cover the increased costs on top of their own power usage
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u/sophietehbeanz 15h ago
I would make sure that those data centers are paying. I mean, like actually check with your own eyes because Meta AI Data Center in Georgia stole millions of taxpayers money by illegally connecting to the main water supply and stole 29 million gallons of water. And flushed bacteria water into the water supply. Like I don't know how this guy isn't in fucking jail right now. It's not only him but the CEOs and shit from this company.
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u/Low_Map4007 15h ago
Did data centers get billed and the power company was told to put it on the town’s tab? I don’t get how that happens
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u/isthereadrwho 1d ago
Same reason NFL teams don't pay for a stadiums. Grift