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Home electricity bills are skyrocketing. For data centers, not so much.
(yaleclimateconnections.org)
Someone has to pay the billionare's bills
this post was submitted on 05 Jan 2026
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Here’s the crux of the article for you.
In just two years, starting in 2022, residential electricity prices rose by 10%, while commercial prices increased by only 3%, and industrial electricity prices fell by 2%.
Even if you don't like or use ai, you're forced to pay for it
But why is it this way? Why wouldn’t they want to charge both groups more for a higher profit margin?
Wouldn't want to upset corporate overlords.
Partly because doing so risks that they might decide to invest in their own production instead, and therefore not buy any electricity from you at all which would result in loss of demand, and a reduction in overall electricity cost.
Like how rising a bus ticket fare by 10% means you will lose some customers because they decide to walk instead, so your profit increase will be lower than that 10%. Raise it too much, and almost everyone walks, and you sell no tickets.
And it's a lot harder to build your own solar or wind farm if you are a person living in an apartment building.
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The working class get the 'get fucked' tax on top of the costs. Companies get cheap power to make more money.
I'd like to see this graph with the EU power costs. I pay AVG € 0,27 per kWh now. Used to be € 0,20 before the attack on Ukraine began. That's a 35% increase.
It's what the maga working class voted for. That, and cruel deportations.
You think fucking over the working class is MAGA specific? Fucking us over is 100% bipartisan.
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What? I pay around ninety cents! What is this shit.
My electric bill last month would have been $1,700 at that rate. We would just have to freeze to death.
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The AI data centers and crypto miners should be paying much higher rates than everyone else.
That's not how capitalism works.
Here in Germany we have balcony solar panels. They are just plugged into a socket - no electrical installation needed - and pay off quickly.
How does the outlet work putting electricty back into it? You sure it's not a special outlet?
You can plug anything back into your how power system so long as the reverse current is not more than the ratings of the wires & equipment that current runs through.
In the US, most residential outlets are rated for 15-20 Amps at 120 Volts. You'd need to find a solar panel that matches these ratings. There are what's called "AC solar panels" or just panels with micro inverters that transform the DC electricity from the panel to AC right on the panel itself. As long as the circuit you plug into is rated for it, you can plug as many panels like this into your home power system.
I'd have to check the National Electrical Code (NEC), but I believe that if you're planning on making those solar panels permanent, and since the hypothetical ones in this conversation have "plug and cord" connections, you'd need to hardwire those panels with wiring hidden behind drywall. If you truly plan to use those panels temporarily, such as seasonally, maybe you can make the argument that you don't need to do that.
It's all up to your Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ), which is usually your town's or city's Building or Electrical Department.
No. It is just wires that transport energy. Old power meters will even run backwards.
For safety, these panels have some electronics that switch them off when it is not plugged in, or during power outages.
Depends on the country iirc. But most European countries allow you to discharge 800 watt unless you install it on a separate breaker. Regular socket
I was surprised when I read about it too, but it's true, they quite literally just plug them right into the normal plugs.
It works because there's a certain tolerance on the German breakers that allow for power to reverse. The balcony panels take advantage of this. However this also limits the possible output to whatever the tolerance is, otherwise it would overload and shut off or worse.
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Yes, I am Fucking Pissed at my energy bills for the last 6 months. Like WTH. It is like $500 a month vs what was $300 max. I told my husband... it is time to start investing in solar generators. We are getting screwed for some stupid tech boy.
I would love if this creates some kind of decentralized energy network. You know how you can sell your energy back to the grid when you have solar surplus? We should have the option of choosing the rate too. If they don’t want to pay our prices, they don’t need our electricity,
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This shit is a failure of local and state governments, and the people who elect them. Now that AI costs are hitting citizen pocket books, many municipalities are fighting back.
"All politics is local."
In particular, its a failure of state utilities commissions, which have power over electric pricing.
Don't know about your jurisdiction, but we vote those people in and out around here. Well...
We used to have a quasi-private/public power company. County commissioners voted us out of that. (Still our fault.) We do still have such a water setup. For now.
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come on Muricans, stop complaining and get a third job to pay for the slop machine until the bubble burst and the you have to pay for the bailout
stop complaining, remember "you are not there yet"
I ran three jobs for a couple of years. I ended up high enough up in my current job that they'd take offence to a second job. And the market is shit. I just want to move to a nice quiet country where your neighbors aren't an actual liability with decent healthcare and work until I'm dead giving my kids a chance at living a happy life. Is that too much to ask?
My city still owns the utilities and the council doubles as the utility board. They've been trying to privatize it, but it's very contentious. Rightly so.
2024 and 2025 not included in their data.
I suspect that it's always been the case that bigger customers are able to negotiate better prices. 1 car a year vs 1000 cars a year? 200 pounds of bread a year vs. 200 tons of bread?
Also, isn't a steady state power consumption of a data centre easier to manage than homes flipping toasters on and off? I suppose that the inefficiency drives up the costs for home usage
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Civilian bills increase while corporate discounts abound? Ya'll need to fuck someone up with the 2A.
The idiots are convinced they'll "be one of them someday"
Cue the "Fry, you arent rich!" Scene. Its very very real.
I have a friend that literally blames all problems in America on "The Poors" (his words) and when I try to tell him he IS the poors and is nowhere near rich, he doesn't listen. Doesn't believe workers should own the means of production because "when he owns HIS business, he wants to keep his money HE earned"
Brainwashed idiocy.
He rents, has a 20 year old car, is a bartender, and shops at Walmart exclusively. Also loves Grok.
America is doomed.
Always loved that Futurama scene, for the way it's perfectly in line with Fry's character and his amazingly broken reasoning facilities, while also just directly pointing out the bitter hatred of self, as a class, this kind of thinking always entails.
God don’t I know it. Looking at 500 dollar a month electric bills and I’m possibly disconnecting my heat pump.
Where are you? That's what I pay a year, granted I live in a shoebox.
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The lowest rate I can find here in Texas was triple what I was paying last year.
Indiana price increase in 2025 ~20% (I believe the new rates went into effect in November, and this does not include a base increase for having your house connected to the grid. I believe it was $10/mo increase making that % even larger.
ok damnit, how many more servers do i need to install.....
just sayin’ this is still so incredibly cheap… 8c/kwh… australian electricity prices are 24-43c/kwh (obv usd vs aud but the aussie $ isn’t that weak)
In Canada, the only province that historically has a rate that high is Ontario, and that is because they use Nuclear power, which is more expensive to maintain, and also they have no protection laws for consumers. So residents of Ontario pay what the US companies are willing to pay for power.
The neighbouring province, Quebec, uses primarily Hydro Electric dams, and has protection laws that restrict pricing for hydro power for residents of Quebec to a reasonable margin above cost, regardless of what the US is willing to pay for the power.
When I lived in Ontario, the price was $24c/kwh, while Quebec was $8/kwh
Ontario has had new laws passed with the energy board and now it appears their price is down to $14c/kwh according to this site, but I'm willing to bet that is highly dependent on surge pricing. Getting straight answer on costs is difficult these days with all the tiered pricing.
Apparently Alberta is more expensive than Ontario now.. Must be all that "freedom" they have... Did they privatise electric in addition to everything else there? I'm not familiar with how their grid is powered.. Maybe its oil/coal based. Which would be unsurprising.
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It's almost that time of the year when NY electric rates get hiked up and then get "frozen" to avoid further rate hikes while you conveniently get locked into that higher rate.
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