Data centers did not raise average U.S. household electricity prices from 2015 to 2024.

Rather the opposite, their estimate finds: a 10% increase in data-center capacity lowered average residential electricity prices by about 0.4%.

Because, an electricity grid costs a lot to build and maintain whether it is lightly used or heavily used.

So when a large, steady customer like a data center buys much more electricity, those grid costs are spread across many more units of electricity sold. Total costs may rise, but the cost per unit can fall.

And when more power plants are needed, the new plants can be cheaper to run than the older power supply already built into customer bills.

The reason is not that electricity becomes free to produce, but that grids, wires, and generators can sometimes serve more demand at a lower average cost.

There is one important limit: this only holds when the grid can keep building enough supply, because shortages or overbuilding could flip the effect and raise prices.