Trump administration announces AI datacenter ratepayer protection pledge: tech companies cover incremental power costs.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Thursday touted the rapid adoption of his administration's Ratepayer Protection Pledge, declaring that the initiative is shielding American families from higher electricity bills as artificial intelligence data centers drive up power demand nationwide.
Speaking at a White House event featuring governors and technology executives, Trump said the plan requires major tech companies and data center operators to cover the full cost of new energy infrastructure they place on the grid rather than shifting those expenses onto residential ratepayers.
"We're here today to continue the incredible progress we're making in communities nationwide to ensure that as new data centers go up, electricity bills for American families will actually come down," Trump said. "With the Trump Administration's Ratepayer Protection Plan, American innovators and consumers win together because we're insisting that AI data centers and big tech companies pay their own way."
Trump said more than 220 utilities, tech companies, state governments and other partners have signed the voluntary pledge since he introduced it several months ago. He claimed the commitments now cover electricity rates for 80 percent of the power distributed in the United States.
"Data centers and AI are dramatically increasing the demand for electricity. It's only fair that the cost of building the new infrastructure required to meet this demand be borne by the corporations themselves, not by the American consumers," Trump said. "Under the groundbreaking plan, America's largest tech companies have formally committed to fund or build all energy infrastructure required to meet the demand they are placing on the grid."
Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry, who attended the event, emphasized that U.S. leadership in artificial intelligence must not come at the expense of households. "Who wins will absolutely control the levers of global power. But winning, as the president said, cannot come at the cost of American families, and his Ratepayer Protection Pledge demands that tech companies cover the cost of power generation and infrastructure, rather than shifting them to the citizens," Landry said.
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp pointed to results in his state, where expanded power generation has coincided with lower rates for customers. "The best thing is, as our power generation is going up, our rates are going down," Kemp said.
Dina Powell McCormick, president of Meta, described the company's approach at its data center project in Richland Parish, Louisiana. She said Meta has agreed to pay the full cost of infrastructure needed to connect to the grid to protect local customers from rate increases. "To date, we have had $1.6 billion in contracts that have gone straight to businesses in Richland Parish and particularly small business owners," Powell McCormick said.
Trump framed the pledge as part of a broader America First approach to technological competition. "The United States never settles for second, and we don't under this administration. We live by the motto 'America First.' Thanks in part to this incredible technology boom, investments are pouring into the United States from all over the world."
The administration has promoted the voluntary commitments as a market-driven solution that allows AI expansion while preventing the kind of rate spikes some communities have experienced when large data centers arrive without dedicated generation or transmission upgrades.