President Donald Trump announced an expansion of his administration’s Ratepayer Protection Pledge on July 23, aiming to prevent AI data centers from increasing household energy bills. The voluntary pledge now includes nearly 200 stakeholders, covering 80% of power delivered to American homes and businesses. Signatories include energy utilities, data center developers, public energy authorities, co-ops, and state governors.
At a signing event at the EPA headquarters, Trump emphasized that tech companies should bear the costs of powering their data centers. “The cost of building the new infrastructure required to meet this demand should be borne by the corporations themselves, not by the American consumers,” he said. The pledge commits major tech companies to fund or build the necessary energy infrastructure.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee advanced the Ratepayer Protection Act by a 52–0 vote on Tuesday, which would mandate state public utility commissions to consider the costs of data center energy demands.
Republican governors, including Jeff Landry of Louisiana, Brian Kemp of Georgia, Jim Pillen of Nebraska, and Brad Little of Idaho, signed the pledge. Major utilities like Duke Energy and NextEra Energy also joined. The pledge was first announced in March, with tech companies like Google, Microsoft, Meta, Oracle, xAI, OpenAI, and Amazon signing on.
Trump has promoted data center growth to compete with China, but public opposition has risen due to concerns about energy prices, water consumption, and noise pollution. A Gallup poll in March found that 70% of Americans oppose new data centers in their communities.