California’s data centers should be models of affordable, clean electricity

California’s sky-high electricity rates – driven primarily by investor-owned utility spending on wildfire as well as transmission and distribution investments – risk making monthly bills unaffordable for families and the state less economically competitive and less of a global hub for technological innovation. 

Last year, policymakers made progress on reforms aimed at improving energy affordability. But the expansion of energy-intensive data centers to fuel the current boom in AI is challenging those gains.

In a new op-ed published today in CalMatters, staff from Net-Zero California and The Utility Reform Network highlight the risks and opportunities posed by data centers in California. The main takeaway is that while there is clear potential for data centers to drive rate increases, it is possible to not only guard against this outcome, but in fact turn this new load into a net-positive for consumers and the grid. SB 886 and SB 887, authored by Senator Steve Padilla (D-18), provide a framework to deliver these benefits while minimizing environmental harms and incentivizing high-standard data centers in California.

For more information, please contact Sam Uden (sam@netzerocalifornia.org).