Energy use by data centers in Oklahoma and throughout the U.S. will soon be surveyed in a mandatory effort by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
It means the Google data center in Pryor and those in Oklahoma City will be required to explain just how much electrical power they consume in their operations. The survey is in response to growing concerns, not just by Oklahoma consumers, but others nationwide, that data centers and their appetite for large amounts of electrical power, will result in higher costs paid by ratepayers.
The topic and concerns from constituents prompted two U.S. Senators, Elizabeth Warren and Josh Hawley, to inquire of the EIA last month and the EIA responded.
“Americans deserve to know how much energy data centers are sucking up and what that’s doing to their utility bills,” Warren told WIRED in a statement. “The EIA’s mandatory survey is an important first step towards holding data centers accountable, but people are hurting right now. I’m pushing EIA to collect and share this data as soon as possible.”
Before Warren and Hawley made their request, Tristan Abbey, head of the Energy Information Administration said the agency would carry out a pilot survey of heavy development of data centers in Texas, Washington state and the northern Virginia/DC metro area.
WIRED reported the information in the survey will not just focus on annual electricity use, but also details of behind-the-meter power generation, a process approved and signed into law last year by Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt. It is a process that prompted some data center developers to consider construction of gas-powered generation facilities for their proposed data centers.