Amazon, meanwhile, claims its datacenters are helping ratepayers despite tons of evidence to the contrary

Concerned over continually rising energy costs linked to AI datacenter construction projects, three Democratic Senators are asking leading bit barn operators to explain why their promises of not passing grid expansion costs onto consumers are falling short. 

Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) sent letters to Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, CoreWeave, Digital Realty, and Equinix on Monday, demanding answers on their contributions to rising utility rates, which the lawmakers blame firmly on the explosion of datacenter construction projects.

Because the massive scale of AI datacenters requires more power than most grids can supply, the Senators explain in their letters, utility companies have to build out their grids to the tune of billions of dollars. 

"Tech companies have paid lip service in support of covering their data centers' energy costs, but their actions have shown the opposite," the trio wrote. 

They cite a number of ...