Energy News Beat's roundup highlights the question of who pays for data center power, alongside ten other stories.

Data centers are powering the AI revolution, but who is paying the bill? In this episode of Energy News Beat, host Stu Turley examines a $29.4 billion question that is about to reach consumers' electricity bills. Federal regulators have rejected most of PJM's plan to require data centers to bring their own power, and the consequences are significant. Electric bills could jump by $26.87 in June 2025, and that is only the beginning.

Capacity costs are up 46% over four auctions. Data center loads added $29.4 billion to those costs across the four auctions, or 46% of total costs. Americans are beginning to see that energy dominance means little if a family in Ohio cannot keep the lights on at a fair price.

Public opinion reflects that concern. According to the cited polling, 84% of Americans are concerned about the impact of data centers on energy prices, and 73% support requiring data centers to bring their own power. The host advocates "BYOP," or Bring Your Own Power, as the solution. "I am for Data Centers Done Right," he says. "Data Centers need to be done right, and this is very concerning."

*Chart: PJM forecast summer peak, 2026–2046. Source: PJM 2026 Load Forecast.*

The pressure is already real. Today, Tuesday, PJM issued a Maximum Generation Alert and a Load Management Alert, extended a capacity advisory through Oct. 14, and said it had received an emergency order from the Department of Energy. It attributed the strain to unusually warm weather and planned fall maintenance. (The most recent PJM notice cited is dated Oct. 12, with no newer notice as of 7:00 a.m. CT on Oct. 13.)

Bringing your own power is already happening without a tariff rule. On Oct. 6, Google and Constellation announced 890 MW of nuclear uprates at 11 PJM units, worth more than $4.3 billion, with the first expected by 2028.

*Chart: Public opinion on data centers and power bills. Sources: Pew; AP-NORC/EPIC; Heatmap Pro.*

Consumer advocates have been direct about the impact. New Jersey's Rate Counsel described last year's increase as "over $20.00 per month." Maryland's People's Counsel tied the summer price jump to "the capacity market impacts of data centers." Consumer advocates in the FERC case also pushed for access to the registry data.

**Russia, Ukraine, and the diesel deal**

The episode also turns to the geopolitical stakes of a Russia-Ukraine diesel arrangement. Chinese seaborne crude imports are approaching 12 million barrels per day, with purchases sourced from Malaysia and Singapore due to cheaper tanker rates, with implications for global oil markets. Diesel prices are up 71% since the announcement, and the deal has drawn controversy over whether it breaks a 2020 law. The discussion also highlights what the host calls sanctions hypocrisy, noting that the EU has continued buying from Russia during the war. The host advocates ending the war and changing Ukrainian leadership.

Stuart Turley, president and CEO of Sandstone Group, was interviewed by the Daily Caller News Foundation (DCNF). Asked whether Russian diesel would meaningfully lower U.S. prices, he said, "No, but it is a help because it gets President Putin to the table." He called the question "the tip of the iceberg of the entire problem."

"There's only two ways diesel and gasoline prices can come down," Turley said. "One, demand destruction. Number two, … more refineries. It takes decades to build refineries."

In a statement to the DCNF, Turley urged the administration to use the Defense Production Act to expand U.S. refining, saying the law "is the right tool, and now is the time." "Use it as a checkbook and a referee, not a press release," he added. He also called for a wider Jones Act waiver, which he described as "critical to keeping prices from skyrocketing," particularly on the East and West Coasts.

"High diesel prices is the inflationary impact to the United States economy that the U.S. Treasury nor the Fed can impact," Turley told the DCNF, adding, "Buckle up. We're in for a rough ride."

After Putin and Trump spoke on Friday, the Kremlin said that "the Russian side reaffirmed its readiness to supply oil and oil products to the American and world markets."

Separately, the episode reports that 1.46 million barrels per day of Gulf output (71%) has been shut in, along with 1.26 million cubic feet per day of natural gas (59%), and that personnel have been evacuated from 129 of 371 platforms. Refineries faced less disruption than expected.

**Funding gaps and hidden timelines: California's high-speed rail**

The episode also examines California's high-speed rail project. The Bakersfield segment has been reduced from 171 to 162 miles and is budgeted at $35.7 billion. The host contrasts this with Morocco's successful bullet train project and criticizes what he describes as regulatory overreach.

Energy News Beat previously highlighted a stark contrast. France's SNCF, which was involved in early California planning in the 2000s, withdrew around 2011 after frustration with political interference, route changes driven by local interests, high costs, and over-engineering. Project manager Dan McNamara told *The New York Times* in October 2022: "There were so many things that went wrong. SNCF was very angry. They told the state they were leaving for North Africa, which was less politically dysfunctional. They went to Morocco and helped them build a rail system."

In Morocco, SNCF provided design, construction, and operational expertise for the Al Boraq line, Africa's first high-speed rail. The roughly 350 km Tangier–Rabat–Casablanca corridor opened in November 2018 after about a decade of work, cutting Tangier–Casablanca travel times from roughly five hours to about two hours and 10 minutes at speeds up to 320 km/h. Costs were among the lowest globally for high-speed rail, on the order of €9 million per kilometer (roughly $15 million per mile in some analyses). The project was not perfectly on its original schedule or budget, but it was completed successfully and has operated reliably. Morocco is now expanding the network further, including toward Marrakech, with international contractors and financing.

California's economy is more than 20 times larger than Morocco's, yet the first Central Valley segment alone is projected at more than $200 million per mile in some estimates, orders of magnitude higher than Morocco's costs. California's full Phase 1 scope has been estimated at as much as $231 billion (or $126 billion under an "optimized" scenario), with full service potentially not arriving until around 2040. Voters approved Proposition 1A in 2008 for a $33–45 billion system offering San Francisco–Los Angeles service in under two hours and 40 minutes by 2020. Billions have been spent, and no high-speed passenger service exists.

**Refineries, the Defense Production Act, and energy dominance**

The episode argues that the U.S. has lost refining capacity at an alarming rate. According to the figures presented, the U.S. lost 54% of its refineries in red states, falling from 300 to 130 in total, while blue states lost 64% due to what the host attributes to net zero policies. Texas and Louisiana hold 50% of total refining capacity. The host calls for using the Defense Production Act to expand refineries, stresses the importance of electrical generation for energy dominance, and argues for expanding nuclear energy. He also addresses backup power and preparedness for consumers and criticizes net zero policies as a wealth transfer.

Saudi Arabia's role in maintaining oil market stability is also discussed, along with the Trump administration's reported consideration of joining a Saudi campaign against the Houthis after a deadly Riyadh airport attack, and recent Saudi pipeline attacks followed by rapid rebuilds.