President Donald Trump speaks at a roundtable event at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday, July 23, 2026. The event promoted the government’s Ratepayer Protection Pledge, which aims to cap utility prices in communities with up-to-date data centers. (Screenshot from White House livestream)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump announced Thursday the inclusion of Republican governors, lawmakers, utilities and technology companies in his pledge aimed at sparing American consumers the costs of building and operating data centers.
The Ratepayer Protection PromiseThe law, first signed by the president in March, requires companies that build and exploit data centers to pay for any up-to-date infrastructure upgrades and generation resources that serve them.
Tech giants Google, Microsoft, Meta, Oracle, xAI, OpenAI and Amazon have all signed the initial pledge. Now the measure is being expanded to include nearly 200 additional stakeholders, including several governors.
Electric companies and other utilities generally pay for infrastructure upgrades with the revenue they earn from their customers’ payments. The agreement aims to pass these costs directly to the centers’ companies in communities with up-to-date data centers. According to Trump, the initiative will provide 80% of all electricity delivered to American businesses and homes.
“As new data centers emerge, all American families’ electric bills will actually go down,” Trump said Thursday during a panel at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
He added that Big Tech companies are “happy” to foot the bill for data centers because it allows them to continue to operate and grow.
“I have always said that America’s goal must be to dominate the future, and that includes being the No. 1 superpower in artificial intelligence,” Trump said. “By doing so, we will grow our economy, lower the cost of living, protect American consumers, and be global leaders in AI and high-tech.”
Republican governors. Jeff Landry of Louisiana, Brian Kemp of Georgia, Jim Pillen of Nebraska and Brad Little of Idaho joined the president at the roundtable to reaffirm their commitment to the pledge. Some governors head state utility commissions, which set electricity prices.
A total of 23 Republican governors signed the pledge, according to an undated document the White House sent to reporters Thursday morning. Only Ron DeSantis of Florida, Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire and Phil Scott of Vermont declined to sign.
The executives said huge power plants provide energy to their states without increasing consumer costs and touted partnerships with companies like Meta.
Landry said his state’s deal with Meta will “save Louisiana $2.6 billion” and support strengthen “river liability” and reduce “resilience costs” for those who live on the Gulf Coast.
In Georgia, Kemp said the pledge will support the operation of nuclear plants while keeping interest rates low for local communities.
Contradictory numbers
The environmental advocacy group Climate Power has published one report Thursday, contradicting the president’s promises to lower electricity costs for consumers.
According to the organization, prices have risen an average of 18% since Trump took office.
“As Trump stages public relations stunts to salvage his tank approval rating, Americans are paying the price for his cost-increasing plans,” Climate Power’s report said. “As gasoline prices hit $4 a gallon again this year thanks to Trump’s campaign in Iran, Americans in five states faced price hikes of up to $9 a month.”
The states listed were Missouri, North Carolina, Connecticut, New Mexico and Oregon.
Defeat China
Speakers Thursday, including Trump, governors, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin, repeatedly said the pledge could support win an AI race with China.
“Americans are united in their desire to stimulate our economy and enhance our national security by maintaining our advantage in artificial intelligence over China,” Wright said.
They are also “united in their frustration with the disastrous nearly 30% increase in electricity prices across the country during the Biden administration,” he added.
Trump noted that China’s authoritarian government does not require environmental impact studies or other approvals.
House bill
Earlier this week, the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee unanimously passed a bill similar to the Ratepayer Protection Pledge to protect Americans from paying higher electricity costs associated with data centers.
Sponsored by bipartisan Reps. Gabe Evans, a Republican from Colorado, and Kathy Castor, a Democrat from Florida Ratepayer Protection Act would require state regulators to consider adopting standards for data centers to pay for their own power, infrastructure and other developments.
“America must build the energy infrastructure necessary to win the global AI race and outdo opponents like Communist China — but hardworking families should never be forced to subsidize that growth through higher electricity bills,” Evans, chairman of the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy, said in a statement Tuesday.
Shortly before passing by a vote of 52-0, the committee narrowed the bill’s scope to focus specifically on data centers. The wording in an earlier draft would have applied to power plants with a maximum electricity requirement of 100 megawatts or more, according to Politico.
The Data Center Coalition, an advocacy group that represents some of the industry’s biggest names including Amazon, Microsoft and Google, said in a statement Wednesday that it supports the original version of the bill but opposes the changes.
The changes “single out the data center industry and leave Americans vulnerable to the costs associated with the strong load growth of other industries as they continue to expand their U.S. operations,” said Josh Levi, the group’s president and CEO.
Progressives are pushing for a total ban
Some Democratic lawmakers, including Energy and Commerce Rep. Frank Pallon of New Jersey, have expressed support for the more restrictive idea of a national data center moratorium.
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont have introduced parallels Bills in their respective chambers to enforce a nationwide moratorium on AI data centers.
Such legislation would temporarily prohibit the construction of up-to-date data centers and the expansion of existing data centers in the United States until Congress addresses the economic, environmental and safety impacts associated with the facilities. Last week New York became… first state to impose a ban to AI data centers.
