Trump details Big Tech electric price pledge

Trump shares details of Big Tech power price pacts

President Trump and major tech firms announced an agreement Wednesday aimed at making Big Tech companies cover the cost of the electricity they consume as development of artificial intelligence shows no signs of stopping.

Google, Microsoft, Meta, Oracle, xAI, OpenAI, and Amazon have agreed to sign onto the “Ratepayer Protection Pledge,” the White House said Wednesday, describing the pact as an agreement to build, bring or buy new power to support their data centers in order to prevent higher electricity costs for consumers.

Trump, during Wednesday’s roundtable with the companies’ leaders, said that companies would make five promises in accordance with the pact: This includes a commitment to provide or pay for all power generation and electricity needed for AI projects, along with adding electricity generating capacity to the grid through new power plants when possible.

Companies also agreed to negotiate separate rate structures with different utilities, invest in local communities for workforce development, and utilize their infrastructure to provide backup power to local grids when needed.

“In short, America’s largest and richest tech companies will be funding a colossal expansion of U.S. energy,” Trump said.

He also said that the federal government would quickly approve permits for the plants.

The move comes as concerns mount over data centers’ impact on customer electricity rates.

Mark Wolfe, the executive director of the National Energy Assistance Directors’ Association, told The Hill that the announcement was “a step in the right direction.”

“The details are important, though,” he added, specifically noting that the details of the rates that companies negotiate will matter.

Read more here, from The Hill’s Miranda Nazzaro and me.

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