"Worries about water use have gone viral, even though data centres are no thirstier than other industrial projects. But they do eat up power, rapaciously. Data centres consume 5% of America’s electricity, up from 2% a decade ago. The International Energy Agency projects nearly 10% by 2030 (see chart 1). Average power bills are up around 40% since 2019, well above inflation. Georgia’s PSC has approved six bill rises in recent years.
Are data centres to blame? In Georgia, the main culprit is more prosaic. Alongside the standard pressures–natural gas prices, costly grid modernisation–Georgians are also paying for cost overruns at Plant Vogtle, the site of America’s first from-scratch nuclear reactors in decades. (The plant is named after Alvin Vogtle, an electricity executive and possible inspiration for Steve McQueen’s character in “The Great Escape”. The new reactors will be the world’s most expensive until Britain’s Hinkley Point C wraps up in the 2030s.)"
https://www.economist.com/united-states/2025/10/30/the-data-centre-backlash-is-brewing-in-america
