As Democrats and Republicans battle over rising utility bills ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, new research reveals a complicated reality: Data centers can increase electricity costs, but their impact depends on energy demand, grid capacity and who pays for infrastructure upgrades.
WASHINGTON | It’s now taken for granted that data centers across the U.S. are driving up electricity prices. As many Americans have soured on the energy-consuming facilities powering digital life and the AI boom, the issue has become central to the midterm elections.
Ad after political ad targets data centers, with many stating as fact that electricity prices have gone up as a result.
“No one asked for that data center to be built here, and no one here is getting a damn thing from it except higher electric bills,” one ad in Ohio, paid for by Democratic Senate candidate Sherrod Brown, says.
Tens of millions of dollars have been spent airing ads that make claims about data centers and electricity prices this cycle, with heavy spending on races in states such as Ohio, Texas, Pennsylvania and Michigan, according to the ad-tracking service AdImpact.
Recent surveys have found that a majority of Americans would not support a nearby data center, making opposition to the facilities a rare area of bipartisan agreement. The top reason to oppose data centers, according to one poll, is rising electricity prices.
At the same time, Department of Energy Secretary Chris Wright has repeatedly claimed that data centers have beneficial effects on electricity prices.
