Trump to meet tech giants on energy pledge ahead of midterms

(Reuters) - US President Donald Trump is set to meet on Wednesday with leaders of major technology companies, including Google Meta and OpenAI, to formalize a pledge aimed at protecting consumers from rising electricity costs tied to the rapid expansion of energy intensive data centers.

The White House has said the so called "Ratepayer Protection Pledge," announced by Trump in his State of the Union Address, would see tech firms commit to measures designed to ensure the boom in artificial intelligence infrastructure does not translate into higher utility bills for households and small businesses.

“President Trump’s ratepayer protection pledge will deliver more ⁠affordable, reliable, and secure energy for the American people and help stop the rising electricity prices that started during the previous administration,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in a statement.

VOTERS CONCERNED ABOUT ENERGY BILLS

The initiative is being launched ahead of the November midterm elections, with voters increasingly concerned about energy affordability and the increased strain on the country's power grids from data centers.

The pledges are expected to include a commitment by technology companies to bring or buy electricity supplies for their data centers, either from new power plants or existing plants with expanded output capacity, according to two sources familiar with the plans.

They are also likely to include commitments from Big Tech to pay for upgrades to power delivery systems and to enter into special electricity rate agreements with utilities, the sources said.

Companies expected at the White House include some of the biggest names in the tech sector, which are investing billions in new AI computing capacity that draws vast amounts of electricity.

Trump has urged those firms to build or secure dedicated power capacity to meet demand rather than relying solely on regional grids, part of a broader effort to balance technological competitiveness with political and economic concerns about energy costs.

It's not clear, however, that the effort will get new supplies of electricity built quickly enough to ease pressure on grids, said Jon Gordon, who is a director at Advanced Energy United, a clean energy trade group that includes some data centers.

SOLAR, WIND ENERGY FASTER TO GET ONLINE

That's in part due to Trump's policy focus on increasing natural gas and other fossil fuel-fired power for data centers, instead of quicker-build sources like solar and wind, he added.

"The real problem is the inability to get generation online fast enough to meet the data center demand," Gordon said. "Hyperscalers paying for the generation doesn't get it online any faster."

Advocates and critics alike will be watching closely to see whether the pledge produces concrete commitments or remains largely symbolic, as lawmakers and consumer groups have called for stronger protections to prevent utility bill increases tied to data center build outs.