Opinion: Media Misleads on Rising Blue-State Power Costs Scapegoating Data Centers

June 22, 2026

Over half of Americans are strongly opposed to a data center being built near their home, and over half also blame rising electricity prices on their construction and use. The Institute for Energy Research has shown that the relationship between data centers and electricity price increases is statistically insignificant, but a campaign first detailed in The Guardian in December of 2025, along with related media hype, has Americans on edge about data center buildouts and their contribution to electricity prices. Data center usage, however, can actually result in lower electricity prices as those prices are spread over more consumers—in this case, the additional consumers are data centers. That can occur if there is excess generating capacity at the utility or if new generating capacity is built when the data center is built.