Data centers will have uneven impact on utilities, forecasts show Photo of Anya Litvak Anya Litvak Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Sep 21, 2025 4:00 AM All the big names in tech were there, he said, “money bulging out of their pockets.” They weren’t selling software; they were looking for energy for their data centers, Mr. Burgum said from the stage of the Marcellus Shale Coalition’s Shale Insight conference in Erie last week. “If you’re not talking to the Big Five tech companies … you’re missing out on the biggest demand signal that there ever has been,” he told the crowd of oil and gas drillers. “And you know who, in some cases, aren’t talking to them in the way they should? Our utility providers.” According to Mr. Burgum, utilities are too timid to chase the expected explosion in electricity demand from large data centers. Consumer advocates have charged the opposite: that utilities and power suppliers are too preoccupied with serving data centers to the detriment of consumer bills.
My letter to reps:
Electric utility companies need to prioritize serving the people, the residential customers, and should not be allowed to make residential customers foot the costs of data center expenses by allowing subsidization through socializing those costs over all customers.
Please feel free to copy or repurpose for your own letters to reps.