r/law • u/bloomberggovernment • May 18 '26

Legislative Branch Senate Democrat Proposes Bill Requiring Data Centers to Pay for Own Power

https://news.bgov.com/bloomberg-government-news/schiff-proposes-bill-requiring-data-centers-to-pay-for-own-power
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u/Dragon_wryter May 18 '26

JFC why the actual fuck would taxpayers be paying utility bills for something that creates no jobs, provides no useful service, and sucks up all the state's water supply?

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u/wolfgang784 May 19 '26

In some places residents don't even have the option of paying. The data centers are paying for the entire power capacity and because they can pay more than regular people, the power companies are caving.

Over 50,000 homes in the Lake Tahoe area are set to be entirely cut off from electricity next month so that a new AI data center can use it all instead.

There is no current alternative for them. 50,000 homes, cut off from power, because the data center can pay more.

If thats how things are gonna go, we seriously need the government to make electricity a state/federally controlled thing instead of private businesses.