Data centers are straining the grid. Can they be forced to pay for it?

Last month, President Trump sat alongside executives of the largest tech companies in the country as they pledged to pay a fair share of the energy costs of their data center buildout. “Data centers … they need some PR help,” Trump said at the gathering. “People think that if the data center goes in, their electricity is going to go up.”

It’s not an entirely unfounded assumption. 

As the tech industry has funneled billions of dollars into the AI boom over the last several years...