Advocates and Lawmakers to Albany: Stop Data Centers from Raising Our Bills Before It's Too Late

ALBANY, NY (10/22/2025) (readMedia)-- With Governor Hochul's unaffordable energy agenda driving up already skyrocketing utility bills for everyday New Yorkers, advocates are demanding that Albany act before gas-guzzling data centers expand unchecked in New York. Ahead of Assembly Energy Chair Didi Barrett's hearing on protecting households and small business ratepayers from rising energy costs from large users like data centers, advocates are calling on lawmakers to make tech companies pay their fair share instead of leaving New Yorkers to foot the bill for data centers' massive energy consumption.

This summer, the New York Independent System Operator's (NYISO) Power Trends report and the state's draft State Energy Plan propagated a highly misleading narrative that New York needs more fossil fuel generation - claims not supported by NYISO's own analysis - to meet speculative data center energy demand. Since then, the Hochul administration continues to signal that it will follow this misleading narrative in an effort to make New York the "No. 1" AI data center hub in the nation, despite what that would mean for New Yorkers' energy bills. Many other states that have ushered in AI are now having buyers' remorse, and advocates are calling on New York to learn from their lessons and protect ratepayers now.

There's ample evidence to show that generating more fossil fuels and building the infrastructure to power data centers raises utility rates for everyday ratepayers, as well as significant evidence that renewable energy paired with storage is significantly cheaper and less-polluting for host communities. Everyday New Yorkers will also bear the costs of utilities building infrastructure for data center demand that is unlikely to materialize. New Yorkers are already paying triple for energy from previous years while utilities that will serve data centers are raking in record profits. The advocates will urge lawmakers to hold tech companies accountable for their energy use, reject fossil fuel expansion, and protect working families from rising energy bills.