AI Data Giants Complicate California Affordable Electricity Aims

Source: Bloomberg Law |  By Titus Wu

“Containing costs in the energy sector has been the number one priority for me since I was appointed to chair this committee,”Assemblymember Cottie Petrie-Norris (D), who runs the Assembly Utilities and Energy Committee, said. 

Consumer advocate Mark Toney, executive director of The Utility Reform Network, a nonprofit based in Oakland, is skeptical that lawmakers can tackle the issue properly. “The legislative process is immune to data and evidence,” said Toney. “That’s just not how they operate. They operate throughpolitical pressure. They operate through campaign contributions. They operate through a lot of other factors.” But even if that math is accurate, the rapid growth of AI in the near-term changes those dynamics, said Toney. “When you have the kind of exponential gigawatts they’re talking about that require new sources of generation, that require new distribution and sometimes transmission lines, then you’re talking about the need for capital investment up front,” Toney said. “That takes years to recover. You don’t recover those immediately.”