'The New Price of Eggs.' The Political Shocks of Data Centers and Electric Bills

[dalton99a]

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/30/us/politics/data-centers-electric-bills-georgia.html

https://archive.ph/vUbSL

‘The New Price of Eggs.’ The Political Shocks of Data Centers and Electric Bills
Democrats zeroed in on utilities and affordability to win Republican support in upset elections in Georgia and Virginia. Can the same playbook work in 2026?
By David W. Chen
Nov. 30, 2025 Updated 11:10 a.m. ET

As loyal Republicans, Reece Payton said that he and his family of cattle ranchers in Hogansville, Ga., had one thing on their minds when they cast their ballots in November for the state’s utility board — “to make a statement.”

They were already irked by their escalating electric bills, not to mention an extra $50 a month levied by their local utility to cover a new nuclear power plant more than 200 miles away. But after they heard a data center might be built next to their Logos Ranch, about 60 miles southwest of Atlanta, they had enough of Republicans who seemed far too receptive to the interests of the booming artificial intelligence industry.

“That’s the first time I ever voted Democrat,” Mr. Payton, 58, said.

In some of Georgia’s reddest and most rural counties, Republicans crossed party lines this month and helped propel two Democrats, Peter Hubbard and Alicia Johnson, to landslide upsets, ousting the incumbent candidates on the Georgia Public Service Commission. No Democrat has served on the five-person commission, which regulates utilities and helps set climate and energy policy, since 2007.

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https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-said-d-cut-energy-134706515.html

Trump Said He’d Cut Energy Prices in Half in 12 Months: Here’s Where They’re at Today
Lydia Kibet
November 14, 2025

President Donald Trump made a bold promise that he’d slash energy prices in half within 12 months of taking office during his campaign in August 2024. “You will never have had energy so low as you will under a certain gentleman known as Donald J. Trump,” he said at a North Carolina rally.

Nearly a year into his second term, here’s what’s happening with energy costs under Trump’s administration.

Trump recently claimed at the U.N. General Assembly in September that “energy costs are down,” but data shows costs have been rising. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), retail electricity prices have gone up since 2022 and will likely continue rising through 2026. On the other hand, as of the end of August 2025, residential electricity prices jumped 6.2% compared to the last 12 months, per the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

Federal Reserve data shows the average household energy cost hit $280.91 in August 2025, up from $261.57 the year before. Some regions are experiencing even sharper increases. Based on EIA data, Maine, New Jersey and the District of Columbia saw residential electricity prices spike as of August 2025. Only two states have seen a slight decline in power prices: Nevada and Rhode Island.

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