Latest / Commentary - TJ Meadows / White House Calls Out PJM on Data Center Costs

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White House Calls Out PJM on Data Center Costs · Commentary - TJ Meadows

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  Speaker 1: Let's talk for a minute about data centers in West Virginia,
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  Speaker 1: because this debate isn't going away for a while now.
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  Speaker 1: The conversation has been loud and frankly emotional. Some folks
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  Speaker 1: look at data centers and see opportunity, new investment, new
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  Speaker 1: tax revenue, a shot in the arm for the economy.
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  Speaker 1: Others look at the same projects and see industrial monsters.
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  Speaker 1: Concerns about water use, noise, light pollution, and what it
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  Speaker 1: means for our mountains and communities. All of that matters,
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  Speaker 1: But right now one issue has jumped ahead of the rest.
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  Speaker 1: Are data centers going to raise your electric bill in
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  Speaker 1: a state with one of the lowest per capita incomes
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  Speaker 1: in the country. That question isn't theoretical. A lot of
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  Speaker 1: West Virginians are already stretched thin, and affordability has become
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  Speaker 1: the political thought line in this debate. To understand how
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  Speaker 1: we got here, you have to rewind a bit. A
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  Speaker 1: few years ago, a company called Talent Energy floated a
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  Speaker 1: proposal in PJAM that's the Regional grid operator, to power
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  Speaker 1: a massive Amazon data center in Pennsylvania by directly tying
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  Speaker 1: into a nearby power plant. Utilities like AEP and Exelon objected,
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  Speaker 1: arguing the deal could shift costs onto regular customers while
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  Speaker 1: the data center essentially rode for free. That fight went
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  Speaker 1: to the federal regulators at FIRK, and it kicked off
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  Speaker 1: a question we're still wrestling with today. Should massive data
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  Speaker 1: centers be subsidized directly or indirectly by everyday rate payers.
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  Speaker 1: Fast forward to today, the Trump administration, along with several
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  Speaker 1: governors from the PJAM region, including West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrissey,
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  Speaker 1: is pushing a proposal built around a pretty basic idea,
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  Speaker 1: if you cause the cost, you should pay the cost.
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  Speaker 1: The plan would encourage it one time special capacity auction
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  Speaker 1: that requires data centers to directly pay for new power
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  Speaker 1: plants instead of spreading those costs across everyone else's electric bill.
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  Speaker 1: It's not binding, it would still need approval from federal regulators,
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  Speaker 1: but the signal is unmistakable. This isn't about tearing up
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  Speaker 1: the market overnight. It's about restoring discipline and basic fairness.
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  Speaker 1: Companies should pay for this, not other utility customers. Now
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  Speaker 1: to the bonus the opportunity. West Virginia is an energy state.
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  Speaker 1: We have natural gas, we have coal. We're looking seriously
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  Speaker 1: at nuclear and we know how to build power plants
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  Speaker 1: and how to run them. We're all in on energy.
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  Speaker 1: So if data centers are going to drive massive new demand,
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  Speaker 1: let them pay for it and let West Virginia supply it.
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  Speaker 1: That means construction jobs, long term operations jobs, stronger tax bases,
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  Speaker 1: severance taxes, real economic development without sticking West Virginians with
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  Speaker 1: higher electric bills. Power Plants don't just generate electricity, they
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  Speaker 1: generate opportunity. Governor Morrissey was right to sign Friday's Statement
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  Speaker 1: of Principles to pjm Our. Lawmakers, policymakers, regulators, business, all
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  Speaker 1: of West Virginia should jump on board as well. Onward
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  Speaker 1: and upward