US President Donald Trump has expanded his Ratepayer Protection Pledge, with more than 200 entities joining the voluntary pledge to ensure US ratepayers are not saddled with the costs associated with the buildout of AI data centers.
– Gage Skidmore
Announced at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) headquarters, the pledge builds on an initial commitment by some of the tech sector's biggest names, including Google, Microsoft, Oracle, xAI, Amazon, and Meta, which was signed in March. The updated pledge includes some of the biggest utility and power firms in the country, covering 80 percent of all power services delivered to US households.
It now includes 150-plus energy sellers, from smaller-scale cooperatives to large-scale utilities, including Southern Company, PPL Corp, NextEra Energy, Duke Energy, and American Electric Power. In addition, 29 data center firms also signed up to the pledge, including colocation heavyweights Equinix, Digital Realty and Prologis.
"The United States never settles for second, and we don’t under this administration... we live by the motto 'America First',” said President Donald Trump. “Thanks in part to this incredible [AI] technology boom, investments are pouring into the United States from all over the world."
