Data centers are consuming electricity at residential scale — and passing the infrastructure costs to you.
US residential electricity prices have risen 27% since 2019 — the fastest increase in 40 years. In 2025 alone, prices spiked 11.5%. There are 3.5 million utility shut-offs per year. $25 billion in outstanding household utility debt. AI data centers are identified by the Department of Energy as a primary driver of this increase.
A single large AI data center consumes as much electricity as 80,000 homes. When a data center moves into your county, it dramatically increases demand on the local grid — requiring infrastructure upgrades that the utility company passes to all ratepayers. Data centers also negotiate special rate structures that mean they pay less per kilowatt-hour than residential customers, shifting more of the infrastructure cost burden onto households.
Since 1982, Alaska has paid every resident an annual dividend from oil company profits. The principle: the oil belonged to the people of Alaska, not to the companies extracting it. The AI Power Dividend applies the same logic. A per-kWh Community Power Contribution on all data centers consuming 5 MW or more, flowing into a locally governed Community Power Fund: 50% to residential bill subsidies, 30% to local grid investment, 20% to the AI Job Guild.