Fact-check: Did data centers cause US electricity bills to rise 267% over five years?
Senator Elizabeth Warren claimed that data centers caused electricity bills for nearby residents to rise by as much as 267% over five years. A PolitiFact review found that this figure actually refers to wholesale electricity prices, not residential consumer bills, though data centers are a significant factor in increasing consumer electricity costs in many areas. Average U.S. residential electricity costs have risen by 42% in the last five years, with higher increases in specific regions.
Senator Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., stated in a recent social media post that electricity bills for residents living near large data centers have increased by as much as 267% over the last five years. This claim aligns with her December 2025 letter to tech firms, announcing an investigation into data centers' effect on utility costs, citing a September 2025 Bloomberg article as evidence.
PolitiFact, however, determined that Warren's figure misrepresented the data. The Bloomberg article's 267% increase referred to wholesale electricity prices, which utility companies pay to producers, not the retail rates consumers pay on their monthly bills. Kenneth Gillingham, an economist at Yale School of the Environment, clarified that wholesale prices constitute only 30% to 50% of the 'supply' component of a consumer's bill, with other costs like transmission, distribution, and taxes making up the rest.
While Warren's specific figure was misleading, data centers have contributed to rising electricity costs. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, average residential electricity costs across the U.S. have risen by 42% in the last five years. More significant increases were observed in specific regions between March 2021 and March 2026, with Washington, D.C. experiencing a 94% rise, Maryland 74%, Maine 73%, and New York 58%. The PJM Interconnection, a grid operator for 13 states and D.C., has seen record-high capacity prices, with its Independent Market Monitor attributing a significant portion of increased capacity costs to data center load growth.
Ari Peskoe, director of the Electricity Law Initiative at Harvard Law School, noted that data centers are driving billions in wholesale power market price increases and delivery infrastructure spending, costs often passed on to all ratepayers. While data centers are a major factor, a 2026 report from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory also identified equipment costs, an aging energy grid, and clean energy requirements as contributors to rising electricity prices.