Opinion | Electricity for Data Centers Has a Cost Highlight

This uncertainty costs money: A power plant could be built in advance, only to find out that some or all of its capacity isn’t needed. Or no power plant is built, and a data center pops up,competing for a limited supply of electricity.

Either way, someone needs to pay—for the excess capacity or for the increased price of what power is available. There are three possible groups that might pay: the utilities that provide electricity, the data center customers, and the rest of the customers on the system.