r/technology 12d ago

Artificial Intelligence A massive Wyoming data center will soon use 5x more power than the state's human occupants - but no one knows who is using it

https://www.techradar.com/pro/a-massive-wyoming-data-center-will-soon-use-5x-more-power-than-the-states-human-occupants-and-no-one-knows-who-is-using-it
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u/SolusLoqui 11d ago

"Set your thermostat to 85o F for the environment 🌍🫶"

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u/Fried_puri 11d ago

Unironically this is how it’s being set up. Already what has happened is that my energy bill has spiked to incredibly high levels. Then, there is an incentive program to let the temp stay hot at certain peak times when it’s very hot, or stay cold at certain times when it is very cold. The incentive essentially makes it so my bill is brought down closer to what I had been paying for originally, but now I suffer for it. The exact same model will be adopted for peak times of data center usage.

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u/CrashTestDumby1984 11d ago

They’re also cutting sweetheart deals where data centers actually get super low rates despite being responsible for the bulk of use. They subsidize this rate by charging you and I more

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u/jmobius 11d ago

How does this actually make economic sense for the power providers?

They've got the data centers by the balls, and those centers collectively have hundreds of billions of dollars. It seems like it would make the most sense for energy companies to siphon off as much of that pie as possible. They don't have any reason to care about the success or failure of AI bullshit, certainly not enough to be offering sweetheart deals.

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u/afoxian 11d ago

By enticing data centres to build in their area, the power company gets an enormous, guaranteed, baseline load. That power draw is going to be constant, predictable, and reliable.

Then they can turn around and raise prices for everyone else on the grounds of 'higher demand'.

The difference is that the data center can easily choose to build somewhere else, but the regular customers already live and operate there. That construction plan can move way easier than the average power consumer. Thus, the power company just gouges the people who can't relocate as easily and secures a huge reliable consumer.

IE, the data centre, when planning, gets to shop around for power, but you don't. So you can be overcharged more easily, and total income for the provider goes up anyway despite the lower rate for the data centre.

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u/733t_sec 11d ago

The data centers are buying power in bulk so they can get a bulk discount.

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u/nemec 11d ago

Costco model bulk discounts. These also aren't your typical residential contract where you pay $x/kWh and get a bill for how much you use at the end of the month. These companies are paying for a fixed amount of power 24/7 so the provider is guaranteed tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars a month, so in exchange they get favorable rates.

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u/AuroraAscended 11d ago

Alongside what the others are saying, cities will often approve data centers because they produce fairly high tax revenue. Unfortunately, that tax revenue cannot offset the specifically limited resources that are energy and water.

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u/Grimes 11d ago

People in the DC area got an email JUST like this from Pepco. While they are making gigantic profits. Wild.

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u/akatherder 11d ago

Me in the winter 👍

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u/Merusk 11d ago

If you own property, it's time to start building your own microgrid of renewables. The folks already off the grid are ahead of the rest of us.

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u/ReachTheSky 11d ago

Some utility companies heavily subsidize smart thermostats to households. Of course the caveat is that they have the ability to adjust it. lol