Less regulation can ensure data centers pay their own way.

Artificial intelligence (AI) companies may be booming, but they’re still struggling to get around a fundamental constraint: an insatiable demand for electricity. The federal government isn’t likely to help them. “I never want Americans to pay higher electricity bills because of data centers,” President Donald Trump has said, insisting that big-tech companies “pay their own way.”

This is the right approach. Ensuring that AI companies pay their full construction and operating costs will not only make electricity affordable again but will also encourage these companies to innovate. To get there, we need regulatory reforms at both the state and federal levels aimed at ensuring that price signals, not government intervention, determine the trajectory for data-center growth.

These reforms should include rolling back any remaining federal-level Inflation Reduction Act policies and state-level Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS), coupled with congressionally mandated permitting reform. These steps will lay the foundation for AI to flourish long into the future.

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