President Trump’s White House is making a deliberate shift in the AI energy debate: If Big Tech wants to build the infrastructure of the future, it needs to pay the full cost of powering it.
Trade and manufacturing adviser Peter Navarro made the administration’s position clear over the weekend, arguing that data center builders should not be allowed to shift the costs of electricity, water, and grid strain onto American ratepayers.
“All of these data center builders, Meta on down, need to pay for all, all of the costs. They need to pay, not only pay for the electricity that they’re using on the grid, but they have to pay for the resiliency that they’re affecting as well. They need to pay for the water. So there’s activity, action here going forward, where we force them to internalize the cost.”
That statement lands at a moment when electricity prices are already climbing. Power costs spiked 6.9 percent year over year in 2025 and show little sign of easing. At the same time, electric and gas utilities sought $31 billion in rate hikes from regulators last year, more than double the $15 billion requested the year before. Many providers cited surging electricity demand from large-scale data centers as a key reason for seeking higher rates.
Meanwhile, the tech buildout is massive. Meta has pledged $600 billion to expand AI infrastructure and its workforce. Apple has also boosted its U.S. infrastructure commitment to $600 billion.
If utilities are building new generation and reinforcing transmission lines to meet hyperscale demand, someone ultimately bears those expansion costs. Navarro’s position is that it should not be families who see it reflected in monthly utility bills.
Companies insist they are not passing costs through.
“Meta pays the full costs for energy used by our data centers so they aren’t passed onto consumers — and we go beyond that by paying for new and upgraded local infrastructure as well as adding new power to the grid,” a spokesperson said.
Paying for direct electricity consumption, however, is not the same as covering broader system strain. Grid congestion, resiliency upgrades, and new generation capacity are financed through regulated structures that often spread costs across ratepayers. Under traditional cost allocation rules, utilities recover grid expansion costs through regulated rates spread across customer classes.
The political pressure around those costs is real. Electricity inflation has become part of the broader affordability debate. When utilities secure rate hikes to finance grid expansion, those increases feed directly into broader inflation metrics.
“Higher power prices will also put upward pressure on core inflation by raising business production costs,” Goldman Sachs analysts warned, noting that rising electricity costs ripple into broader consumer prices.
Energy sits upstream of everything. When power prices rise for manufacturers, restaurants, and food processors, the increases do not stay confined to the utility bill.
President Trump has publicly rejected the idea that households should absorb those increases.
“I never want Americans to pay higher Electricity bills because of Data Centers.”
He added that the “big technology companies who build them … must pay their own way.”
The administration has begun backing that rhetoric with action. In January, several states and the White House signed a pact urging PJM Interconnection, the nation’s largest grid operator, to require major technology firms to finance $15 billion in new generation capacity. PJM operates in some of the most data center-heavy regions in the country, including northern Virginia and New Jersey.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright underscored the urgency.
“Perhaps no region in America is more at risk than in PJM. That’s why President Trump asked governors across the Mid-Atlantic to come together and call upon PJM to allow America to build big reliable power plants again.”
At the same time, the administration has made clear it does not intend to slow AI development.
“We have to lead China and others on this. At the same time, we have to be mindful of the impacts across this nation.”
Critics warn that overly aggressive cost-shifting could slow domestic AI investment at a moment of intense global competition. But some companies are already moving in the direction Navarro is describing. Anthropic has pledged to cover 100 percent of the grid upgrade costs associated with its AI data centers as part of a $50 billion infrastructure plan. Microsoft has said it will pay utility rates sufficient to cover electricity tied to its facilities and minimize burdens on surrounding communities.
Read More: Now, Experts Are Warning Revolutionary AI Tools Change Everything
AI leadership is not in dispute.
Cost allocation is.
The grid is regulated. Rates are approved. Infrastructure is financed.
If data centers require billions in new generation and transmission, someone writes the check.
The White House is signaling it should not be the middle class.
Editor’s Note: Thanks to President Trump’s leadership and bold policies, America’s economy is back on track.
Help us continue to report on the president’s economic successes and combat the lies of the Democrats. Join RedState VIP and use promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your membership.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member