US electricity bills surge as AI fuels demand: US residents are seeing a significant surge in their household electric bills, as data centers continue to soak up energy to power AI models. For more than 67M residents, average annual power bills increased faster than the national average at over 6%, with certain regions in the Northeast seeing hikes of over 13%. Utilities supplying power to these data centers are investing in grid upgrades to meet demand, passing the cost directly onto the consumer.