AI data centers are helping drive up costs for consumers as demand is beginning to threaten the power supply. | Image courtesy ComEd/Shutterstock
By Brett Chase | WBEZ Chicago
ComEd electric customers will see at least a 12% jump in monthly charges starting in June as big data centers increase demand for power and an unrelated consumer credit ends.
The average monthly residential bill is $107, according to ComEd, but that charge will jump to at least $120 as more high-tech operations suck up electricity. A credit related to nuclear power and renewable energy that was a temporary relief from high rates is also set to end at the end of this month.
The majority of the monthly increase is due to the credit expiring, but as much as a quarter of that jump in cost is due to the high demand of power and prices set by a multistate grid operator known as PJM Interconnection.
The upcoming increase follows a double-digit spike in electric bills a year ago credited almost entirely to the rise of data centers, most of which are powering artificial intelligence applications.
And the data center trend doesn’t appear to be slowing.
ComEd says there are more than 80 data centers in Northern Illinois using massive amounts of power. In a state filing last year, the utility said there were another 75 proposed commercial projects in the region that also would be large electricity users.
The estimated power use for those proposed operations is far more than the electricity currently being produced, ComEd said. It’s not clear how many of those proposed operations will actually go forward.
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