President Donald Trump’s trade and manufacturing adviser, Peter Navarro, said the White House may move to force data center developers to absorb the full costs associated with their operations, as electricity prices continue to rise and voter dissatisfaction over affordability deepens.
“All of these data center builders, Meta on down, need to pay for all, all of the costs,” Navarro said on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures.” “They need to pay, not only pay for the electricity that they’re using on the grid, but they have to pay for the resiliency that they’re affecting as well. They need to pay for the water. So there’s activity, action here going forward, where we force them to internalize the cost.”
Navarro did not outline how such a policy would be structured, whether through regulatory mandates, grid pricing reforms, federal compacts, or state-level agreements.
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A spokesperson for Meta Platforms said the company already covers the full cost of energy consumed by its data centers and funds grid upgrades.
“Meta pays the full costs for energy used by our data centers so they aren’t passed onto consumers — and we go beyond that by paying for new and upgraded local infrastructure as well as adding new power to the grid,” the spokesperson said.
The debate unfolds against a backdrop of surging electricity demand driven by artificial intelligence infrastructure and cloud computing expansion. Electricity prices rose 6.9% year over year in 2025, with little indication of short-term relief.
Data centers, particularly in Northern Virginia and New Jersey, have significantly increased load on regional grids. The nation’s largest grid operator, PJM Interconnection, oversees several of the most data center-intensive markets.
In January, several states and the White House signed a pact urging PJM to require large technology companies to finance new power generation capacity. The agreement called for $15 billion in new generation within PJM’s footprint, funded by tech firms, and requested an emergency auction to secure additional supply.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright said after the announcement, “Perhaps no region in America is more at risk than in PJM. That’s why President Trump asked governors across the Mid-Atlantic to come together and call upon PJM to allow America to build big reliable power plants again.”
The administration is also reportedly drafting a compact for major technology firms to ensure that data centers do not push higher utility costs onto residential consumers.
Trump said on Truth Social last month that he had struck a deal with Microsoft “to ensure that Americans don’t ‘pick up the tab’ for their POWER consumption, in the form of paying higher Utility bills.” He added that negotiations were ongoing with other technology companies.
Microsoft pledged not to raise utility costs near its data centers and committed to replenishing water used in operations.
Affordability, Midterms, and Economic Messaging
Navarro linked rising electricity prices to broader affordability concerns. “We understand the ravages that inflation took on you because of Joe Biden’s irresponsibility,” he said, adding that administration policy aims to make wages rise faster than inflation.
However, polling trends suggest the economy is emerging as a vulnerability ahead of the November 2026 midterm elections. Aggregated polling data from RealClearPolitics shows Democrats holding a 5.2-point lead in the generic congressional ballot. Surveys consistently place Trump underwater on economic approval ratings.
In a Super Bowl interview on “NBC Nightly News,” Trump was asked, “At what point are we in the Trump economy?” He replied, “I’d say we’re there now,” adding that he was “very proud” of the state of the economy.
Democrats have centered their messaging on affordability, arguing that everyday goods and services remain too expensive. Democratic governors Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill both won statewide elections in 2025 after campaigning on lowering electricity costs.
Structural Tensions in the AI Boom
The administration’s posture reflects a broader tension between promoting AI-driven economic expansion and managing its infrastructure consequences. Data centers are critical to generative AI, cloud services, and national competitiveness. Yet they require substantial electricity, water, and grid upgrades.
For utilities, the rapid concentration of load in specific regions creates reliability challenges. If capacity expansion lags demand growth, wholesale power prices can spike, translating into higher consumer bills. Policymakers are now weighing how to allocate those costs.
Navarro’s call to “internalize the cost” suggests a push toward cost-causation principles in grid economics, where large industrial users bear not only their energy consumption but also the capital costs of new generation, transmission upgrades, and grid resiliency investments.
At the same time, the administration is opposing some offshore wind projects in the Northeast, even as it pushes for “big reliable power plants,” signaling a preference for conventional generation sources to stabilize supply.
The emerging policy debate places technology companies at the intersection of industrial growth and consumer affordability. If formalized, new cost-sharing requirements could reshape the economics of AI infrastructure deployment, influence site selection decisions, and accelerate private investment in dedicated generation assets.