Rising energy costs from AI data centers land hardest on lower income, rural households, study finds

November 10, 2026 / 2:39 PM EST / CBS News

With data centers cropping up around the United States, the cost of the energy infrastructure on which they rely, and who pays for it, are among the country's most debated economic and political questions. A new study has uncovered some answers: It found that, in 2025, the rising energy costs associated with AI data centers landed hardest on lower-income, rural households, which bore disporportionate shares of the financial burdens compared with the data centers themselves.

Authored by Cornell University researchers and published this week in the journal Nature Energy, the study analyzed growth in both energy demand and infrastructure projects along four major U.S. power grids between 2020 and 2025. It also looked at data from 4,000 existing and proposed data centers spread across the nation. Its results showed that the AI boom, and relative profileration of the data centers used to support it, hike up energy costs in ways that place the greatest economic strain on people who benefit least from the technology.

The study found that data centers unevenly raised wholesale power prices. Those costs are determined through an open markeplace where electricity is bought and sold in…

Original source: https://www.cbsnews.com/moneywatch/