Power bills more than 250 per cent higher near data centres
theglobeandmail.com
theglobeandmail.com
I that article, 267% represents the highest increase seen. It's not any sort of average. It's odd that it's reappeared in this article now.
Not to mention electricity prices have already gone up such a similar percentage since 2020 already, so those people are already looking at a 500% increase versus say 2020, and their salaries have not gone up that percentage I can bet a finger.
And, here's a bit of reading on the process for a customer requiring >75MW: https://www.dlapiper.com/en-us/insights/publications/2026/03...
It's frustrating seeing this issue framed as a big tech issue, and not as an issue of government refusing to govern. Not only are local governments welcoming these data centers, but they're giving them tax breaks to move into town. If it's going to cause the quality of life of your citizens to supply these data centers with water/power, the least you could do is not give them a tax break for doing so.
Let’s stop pretending money doesn’t give a disproportionate amount of influence to a representative government, before things get perpetually violent.
Politicians listen to lobbyists, who are funded by those with the most resources and time, because they’re the ones actively communicating with the politicians.
The ones with the resources and time to hire these lobbyists are not the lower, middle, or even upper-middle incomes who normally don’t have time to do it themselves nor the money to hire.
If you don’t want politicians to listen to the graft, then consider the market-driven source of the problem.
Pinning it on the politicians sweeps the root cause under the rug.