What Will AI Data Centers Cost You?
AI data centers are coming to town. Investing time and money to make Atlanta and Georgia appealing to the data center industry is paying off. New centers are coming online, and plans are on the books to build more. But what’s all this costing the average Georgia gas customer? And will AI data Centers in Georgia affect natural gas bills? Let’s dig into the issue and find out.
What Are AI Data Centers?
Much of our lives are digital these days. From your nightly entertainment to your daily video meetings to weekend chats with long-distance friends. Many companies rely on AI data centers to function and deliver all these capabilities to you. But more importantly, these data centers is that they use tons of energy. In fact, according to Governing, data centers use as much as 40 times more energy than typical office space. That’s enough energy to power thousands of homes.
How Could AI Data Centers Affect Gas Bills?
If data centers use a ton of electricity, then gas bills aren’t really a concern, right? Not really.
In 2023, 43.1% of our electricity came from natural gas. That’s about 40% of our natural gas use in the country. In other words, higher electricity demand means higher natural gas demand. With those increases in demand, we can typically expect higher prices and more market volatility.
This means Georgia gas companies are feeling the pressure of these major additions to the demand across the state.
In addition to the costs of natural gas, electric utilities are spending more to raise their grid capacity. Utilities badly need to upgrade current systems to get data centers up and running without risking outages from unreliable energy. Often, utilities go to the Georgia PSC to pass these costs onto customers. The costs appear as surcharges or riders on your monthly bill. Recent rate hikes for Georgia Power are set to increase their customers’ bills by $38 per month according to Governing.
So, increasing demand for natural gas in Georgia will likely to affect natural gas supplier rates. And this could increase other monthly charges over time.
Want to Keep Your Gas Bills Lower?
There are three easy things you can do to fight for lower natural gas bills today. Firstly, you can contact the Georgia PSC with your concerns. Be sure to find out when new electricity rate cases come up. Also reach out to your local and state representatives to make sure they know your utility costs are a priority. Finally, you can lower your gas bill right now when you compare rates and get a new gas plan at https://www.georgiagassavings.com.