Lowering consumer costs of AI data centers
President Trump announced a national "ratepayer protection pledge" at EPA headquarters, aiming to ensure data center developers and power providers bear their own infrastructure costs. This initiative seeks to prevent these costs from being passed on to consumers, promoting economic growth and U.S. dominance in AI.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt previewed President Trump's "historic ratepayer protection pledge event" at EPA headquarters. The pledge is designed to ensure that all parties involved in building and powering data centers pay their own way, preventing these costs from being passed on to American families.
President Trump plans to expand this pledge to governors, state legislatures, developers, and power providers. He will be joined by Energy Secretary Chris Wright, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin (as per transcript), and several governors who have already committed to the pledge. The initiative has already garnered significant support, with nearly 200 additional stakeholders, including utilities, data center developers, public power authorities, and co-ops, having signed on, now covering 80% of the power delivered to American homes and businesses.
The President's leadership aims to transform data centers from a source of concern into engines of growth and opportunity for communities nationwide, while also strengthening America's position in the global AI competition against China. The objective is to prevent the American public from covering the expenses of private companies, instead leveraging the data center boom to provide tangible benefits for working families and small businesses.