The Trump administration, alongside governors from states including Pennsylvania, Ohio and Virginia, is calling on the nation’s largest electricity grid operator to require tech companies to pay for new power generation needed to support surging AI data center demand.
In a statement released January 16, 2026, the White House urged PJM Interconnection, which serves over 65 million people across 13 states and Washington, D.C., to hold an emergency auction where tech firms would bid on 15-year contracts for up to $15 billion in new baseload power capacity. The move aims to ensure hyperscalers like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft foot the upfront costs for additional plants, shielding residential consumers from rising electricity bills tied to AI’s energy needs.
“The administration said it wants tech companies to bid on the contracts even if they don’t ultimately need the power for their data centers,” according to reports on the initiative.
Tech giants have signaled openness to the idea. Microsoft, in a blog post earlier this week, committed to “pay our way to ensure our data centers don’t increase your electricity prices,” including by funding grid improvements and accepting higher rates to cover costs.
The push reflects broader concerns over AI’s massive electricity consumption, which has strained grids and driven up costs in regions with high data center concentrations. Trump has positioned the plan as part of his energy dominance agenda, urging tech to take accountability amid the sector’s growth.
