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Big Tech is striking secret deals to make you foot its electricity bill, Harvard researchers say
Data centers are spiking electricity demand, and some worry states are striking deals that mean households will pay the cost.
Tech companies racing to secure power for their data centers have struck dozens of secretive electricity deals with utilities that could cost average Americans a "staggering" amount, Harvard research found. If these contracts offer discounted electricity rates to data centers, and new power grid infrastructure is needed to serve them, other customers may end up paying for the shortfall through higher utility bills. "When we have potentially billions of dollars going through these secret contracts where there's just not a lot of investigation about what's going on, we think there's reason to be suspicious that utilities may be offering discounts that are subsidized by everybody else," said Ari Peskoe, director of The Harvard Electricity Law Initiative and coauthor of the paper with Eliza Martin, a legal fellow.
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