Trump urges Amazon, Google, and others to sign energy commitments to prevent data centers from "sucking" residents' bills

PANews March 4 News: The U.S. political arena is taking emergency measures to stabilize the situation that could be shaken by soaring electricity costs ahead of this year’s congressional elections. The U.S. Department of Energy has issued a $26.5 billion loan—its largest ever—to help major utility companies in the Southeast reduce costs for new power plants in Georgia and Alabama. Meanwhile, the country’s largest grid operator has proposed capping wholesale prices, and some governors are considering freezing utility rates to curb electricity expenses. This affordability crisis prompted the White House to convene a meeting with tech giants on Wednesday. Trump has called on companies like Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, and Google’s parent company Alphabet to sign commitments to cover the energy costs of power-hungry data centers. These data centers are blamed as the main culprits driving up electricity prices: in active data center regions, electricity expenses are 267% higher than five years ago; since 2020, consumer electricity prices across the U.S. have increased by over 30%.