Trump expands ratepayer protection pledge to 200 entities as AI data center backlash grows ahead of midterms

The pledge expansion

President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that nearly 200 additional entities have signed his administration's "Ratepayer Protection Pledge," a voluntary commitment aimed at preventing AI data centers from driving up electricity costs for American households. The event at the Environmental Protection Agency headquarters included EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, Energy Secretary Chris Wright, and Republican governors Brian Kemp of Georgia, Mike DeWine of Ohio, Spencer Cox of Utah and Jeff Landry of Louisiana. The pledge was first introduced in March with seven technology companies, Google, Microsoft, Meta, Oracle, xAI, OpenAI and Amazon, and Trump had previewed the initiative during his State of the Union address in February. The new signatories bring the total to cover 80% of all power delivered to US homes and businesses, according to the White House. Major utilities such as NextEra Energy, Duke Energy and Southern Company, along with data center developers Equinix and Digital Realty, joined the pledge. Twenty-three Republican governors signed on; no Democratic governors were invited or participated.

Electricity rates for 80% of the power distributed in America are now being kept in check by the plan. We have kept rates down, way down.

Rising backlash

The expansion comes as the artificial intelligence boom faces growing bipartisan opposition. Utility prices rose 4% year-over-year in June, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data, fueling voter anxiety ahead of November's midterm elections. More than a dozen states have considered moratoria on data centers, and New York became the first to enact a temporary ban this month. Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have proposed a national moratorium. Even Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican who signed the pledge, called for a ban on data center development in rural Texas. Trump dismissed opponents as "radical left communists" who want to surrender the AI race to China, but resistance now spans party lines.

You have to convince your community. You can't fight it. You have to go with it.

Enforcement doubts

The pledge is non-binding and largely symbolic, experts said, because electricity rates are typically set by state regulators rather than federal authorities. The White House did not reach out to Democratic governors, many of whom have announced their own plans to shield consumers from data center costs. It remains unclear whether the voluntary commitments will translate into lower bills, given that data centers are dramatically increasing electricity demand. Trump insisted that surplus power from data centers would flow back to the grid and reduce costs for families, but analysts were skeptical. A slowdown in data center construction could derail a major driver of US economic growth and risk ceding the AI edge to China, adding pressure on policymakers.

Electricity bills for American families will actually come down. They're going to have a lot of electricity left over, and they'll put that into the grid.

Political calculus

The pledge is part of the administration's effort to balance its aggressive promotion of AI as essential to competing with China against mounting voter concerns over affordability. The EPA has loosened limits on smog-causing pollution from gas turbines that often power data centers, a move that has drawn criticism from environmental groups. With the midterm elections approaching, rising utility bills have become a liability for Republicans, and the pledge is an attempt to neutralize the issue. Trump urged executives and governors to sell their communities on the economic benefits, warning that rejecting data centers would mean losing investment to other regions.

If you don't take all that money, somebody else is going to take it. You might as well do it yourselves.